Till Summer Comes Around
by peytonscott87
Summary: When Emily Fitch goes on vacation with her parents to America the last thing she expects to find is love, especially in the form of brash Naomi Campbell, a local with quite a reputation. AU Naomily based off of The Notebook.
1. Carnival

**Pairing: **Naomi/Emily  
**Rating: **T for swearing  
**Summary: **When Emily Fitch goes on vacation with her parents to America the last thing she expects to find is love, especially in the form of brash Naomi Campbell, a local with quite a reputation. But coming from different worlds can their love survive Emily's disapproving parents and all the obstacles their differences produce. AU Naomily based off of The Notebook.

**A/N: **Okay so I know I still have my Cook/Naomi story and Before the Worst on the go but i've hit a bit of a block and then I started writing this and it just started flowing so I couldn't resist. I was listening to Keith Urban's song "Till Summer Comes Around" the other day(which is odd in its own right because I don't normally like country) and it made me think of The Notebook and I thought why not try and write a Naomily version seeing as I thought it fit pretty well. Who knows it might be complete crap but I enjoyed writing it, so drop a line and let me know what you think and if I should continue?

**Carnival**

She has no idea how Cook convinced her to come tonight, wonders as she wanders around this ridiculous carnival grounds why she always lets Cook con her into dong things that she's against with every fiber of her being. Like tonight for instance, they had made plans to head out to Keith's pub, then down to the beach for a bone fire and beer. The same thing they had done for the past 3 years, since they were 15 and testing the wonders of alcohol, and the horrors of alcohol, together for the first time. But here she is, kicking at the dirt under her feet and scanning the crowd for even a slight glance of Cook whom she hasn't seen for at least a half hour.

He had called her up earlier that day, pulling out his usual arsenal of compliments that he always uses when he wants something She scoffed at first when he suggested attending the town 4th of July hoopla cock and bang, an event that they had both despised for as long as she could remember. But Cook was persistent, going off about some story about a girl he had met earlier, a British girl with a weird name that Naomi can't remember, who apparently had a perfect body, nice tits and a mysterious smile. Said she was visiting for the summer with a friend and invited him to the carnival. Naomi had reluctantly agreed to go after hours of begging and the promise of free alcohol and that they wouldn't stay long. But Cook had disappeared minutes after they had walked into this horrendous display of American pride.

So now she was wandering aimlessly, after giving up on finding Cook. She takes a final look around, wonders why even in a crowd of people she still feels alone. She's about to pack it in and call it a night when she spots her. Naomi stops in her tracks and stares, completely mesmerized by the beautiful red haired girl in front of her. She's riding the bumper cars of all things, a big smile on her face as she twirls around, getting bumped from the side, laughing so loud that Naomi can hear her from where she's standing. And Naomi can't help but think about how innocent she looks, almost child like in a sense, and it stirs something inside her that she hasn't felt in forever.

And it wasn't one of those confused "why is a girl bringing out all these feelings in me" because Naomi knew she was gay. Had known for a couple years now after her and Cooks brief stint as a couple. She had figured out somewhere along the line of their short time together that she was honestly more turn on by even a photo of Debbie Harry than by Cooks fumbling attempts between her legs, or any guys for that matter. So she realized it took it in stride and broke things off with Cook, and they had been best friends ever since. Well after she had explained everything to him anyways, remembers distinctly the grin he wore when she told him like she had just fulfilled some sort of fantasy for him without doing a thing. And now when they went out he would point out girls to her and she would to him and it was all strangely normal.

But she had never seen a girl that had made her freeze like this, that made her heart rate speed up and hands go clammy. Sure she had been with her fair share of girls in the past couple years, drunken kisses and mindless sex but never once had she found one that came even close to lighting that spark in her, until now that was.

Naomi steps closer now standing on the edge of the ride, her hands gripping on to the fence that was separating her from the red headed beauty whom she so desperately wanted to get close to. She was hooked no doubt about it, tries to figure out what it is about her that has Naomi transfixed but realizes soon that it's a lost cause. All Naomi can come up with is that this girl just looks so different than anyone else she's ever met, so different than anyone else in this small town. Her eyes are filled with hope, with passion like she just knows that she's going places, that she's going to change the world some day. And Naomi believes her, believes there is something in this girl that is bound to tae her places. And its different than anyone else in town because this girl doesn't seem shackled by the chains of a small town that provides little opportunity. In her eyes Naomi can see a future rather than a meaningless life of working 9-5 at the local Wal-Mart.

"Naomi," Cooks bellowing voice cuts through Naomi's thoughts and she finally tears her eyes away to meet his.

"Oh so you still know my name?" Naomi bites sarcastically," Where the fuck have you been the last hour?"

Cook grins at her and continues forward till he's standing in front of her. Its only then that Naomi notices the brunette standing next to him, she looks cynical, mysterious and looks like she could give less of a fuck about this carnival or anything else in the world.

"Naoms don't be like that," Cook says," Look I want you to meet someone, this is Effy."

Cook gestures to his side.

"Charmed I'm sure," Naomi replies receiving a smirk from Effy.

Its then that Naomi notices the crowd leaving the bumper cars, follows the train of people till she spots red, looking so tiny in the middle of the crowd of people filing through the small gate. And Effy must notice because she's following Naomi's gaze and her smirk is widening once she realizes what the blonde is staring at.

"Her name is Emily," Effy says, causing Naomi to snap her head back in Effy's direction.

"What? Who?" Naomi stumbles, had no idea she was being so transparent, or maybe it was just something about this Effy girl because with one look into her eyes Naomi felt like the girl was reading her mind or something.

"The red head," Effy clarifies," The one you've been staring at."

"I wasn't staring," Naomi defends, shakes her head when she sees the smirk now spreading across Cooks face.

"Fucks sake Naomi I had no idea you saw some one who tickled you're fancy, lets go hunt her down shall we," Cook says.

"Look I don't know what either of you are talking about okay," Naomi says, one giant lie because still now when she closes her eyes all she can see is red and Emily," Besides last time I checked I can't just walk up to some unsuspecting girl and hit on her Cook, she's probably straight as an arrow."

Effy shakes her head then and Naomi's confused for a moment, but before she has a chance to process it she sees the redhead, Emily, walking toward them in her peripheral vision. She begins to panic, which is something she's never experienced before, she's always been cool calm and collected when pursuing someone. But now her palms were sweating and she felt like there was a frog lodged in her throat.

"She's not as straight as you think," Effy says quickly before Emily makes it all the way over.

Naomi doesn't understand what that means, or how Effy even knows anything about Emily but despite everything it gives her a small glimmer of hope. So very quickly she swallows every bit of nervousness and takes a deep breath, willing the normal cocky Naomi Campbell to bring itself back out.

"Ef where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere," Emily says as she approaches.

Her voice is soft but husky, and she like Effy carries a British accent. And Naomi's pretty sure she hasn't heard anything so beautiful in her lifetime.

"Sorry Ems, I had to meet up with Cook," Effy answers pointing to Cook who was still standing beside her.

Emily nods politely at him and then looks over at Naomi briefly before her eyes snap back toward Effy.

"Emily and I are here visiting for the summer," Effy explains," With her family."

"Well Mark is waiting for me by the Ferris wheel so I have to go," Emily says giving Naomi one last fleeting glance and a timid smile before walking away.

"Well I love the Ferris wheel, lets go babe," Cook looks at Effy, ignoring Naomi's scoff.

Effy nods at Cook and tips her head to the side at Naomi as if to say she should come before she runs off to catch up with Emily.

"Well you heard the woman," Cook laughs, and quite frankly he's freaking Naomi out because she's never seen him act like this. He must have it pretty bad for this Effy chick she thinks.

Naomi reluctantly follows, truth is she hates the Ferris wheel, would like to say its because it's a lame child's ride but if she's being honest its because she's slightly terrified of heights. They make her stomach drop and her hands shake, and it's all rather unpleasant but if it's the only way to talk to Emily she thinks it might be worth it. She blows past Cook and Effy to the front of the line, ignores the smirk she can feel Effy casting her way and stops when she reaches Emily about to sit down next to a short brown haired boy that Naomi recognized from her history class.

"Sorry Mark, do you mind?" Naomi says as she brushes past him and takes the empty seat next to a confused and slightly irritated looking Emily.

"Actually Ya I do," Mark went to move between them.

"Sorry bud, only 2 people per cart you'll have to wait for the next one," the ride keeper stopped him short as Naomi shrugs and pulls the bar down over her and Emily.

The ride starts moving and Emily is just staring forward obviously waiting for and explanation. So Naomi takes a deep breath and swallows her fears, knows that after such a bold move she needs to keep her confidence and bravado up. Thinks this could be a monumental disaster as she doesn't even know if Emily is gay, but feels her confidence grow slightly when she remembers Effy's words from earlier "not as straight as you think". Thinks that must be a good sign because Effy is Emily's friend and she would surely know. Unless this is all some kind of amusement for Effy, some cruel joke for her to get her kicks in, but something tells Naomi that Effy wouldn't do that. Which is completely ridiculous in its own right because she has only spoke about ten words to the girl and really doesn't have a fucking clue what she would or wouldn't do.

"Are you going to explain what the fuck is going on here or are we going to ride in silence?" Emily's voice penetrates Naomi's thoughts.

"Right sorry, my name is Naomi, I just took it upon myself to save you from Mark," Naomi decides on.

"And what was it that made you think I needed saving?" Emily snipes," He seemed like a perfectly nice boy to me."

Naomi laughs at this, Emily just sounds so proper, most of it was probably due to the accent but part of it must have been the way she was raised.

"Ya and a conversation with him is about as exciting as watching paint dry," Naomi comes back with," You should be thanking me really."

"Oh how rude of me to not thank my knight in shining armor," Emily says with a roll of her eyes, and Naomi just smiles, likes that Emily has a bit of sass to her it just intrigues her all the more.

"Well now that that's settled," Naomi grins, leaning in slightly towards Emily, staring her straight in her eyes," How about you go out with me?"

Emily's eyes widen at this, she swallows the lump in her throat and forces herself to look straight back at Naomi, defiantly cocking her eyebrow.

"And when did I give you the idea that I would want to do that?" Emily replies,"

"Oh I don't know, you just give off a vibe I guess," Naomi says, cocking her eyebrow to match Emily's.

She's about to ask Emily again when the ride suddenly comes to a halt, Naomi looks around and swallows thickly when she realizes that they are at the very top of the ride. Looks down to see Effy and Cook speaking to the guy running the ride, sees Cook had him some money and Effy say something and realizes its all a set up. When she sits back she does so a little to hard and rocks the cart they are sitting in and out of nowhere Emily's hand is suddenly gripping her arm and its like a bolt of electricity is shooting right through her. It dons in her then that Emily must be just a terrified of heights as she is, so she rocks the cart again a little harder this time and feels Emily's fingers dig into her arm accordingly.

"Can you please stop doing that," Emily says, her voice slightly shaky.

"Sorry Emily can't do that," Naomi says as she leans back and forth," Not until you agree to go out with me,"

Emily looks at her incredulously and Naomi thinks that it really just might be a lost cause but something makes her keep going, something deep in those chocolate eyes that seem to be telling her that she actually does want to do this but is scared. So she rocks even harder, and Emily's nails are digging into her arm so hard now that she's sure they are drawing blood but she doesn't care.

"Will you go out with me?" still rocking back and forth

Emily glares at her for a moment, seemingly trying to figure out if Naomi was going to stop anytime soon with out her giving in. But she must come to the conclusion that won't because after only a couple more seconds of rocking she's grabbing Naomi's other arm and turning her towards her.

"Fucks sake fine I'll go out with you," Emily says.

"Now that didn't sound like you meant it," Naomi replies, going to rock the cart again.

"I want to," Emily says louder," I want to go out with you," she shouts and Naomi catch's Cooks grin out of the corner of her eye.

"Alright we'll go out," she says calmly as she stops moving and settles the cart again, thanking every god imaginable internally that Emily had caved so easily because she didn't think she would have been able to keep it up for that much longer, she was actually feeling a little queasy already.

Emily glares at her again then and soon enough the ride starts moving again and they are at the bottom. As soon as the gate is up Emily is up and off towards Effy. Naomi tries to do the same but when she hits solid ground her legs feel like jello, didn't realize how her little stunt from earlier had affected herself until she felt her stomach lurching and took off towards the nearest garbage can to empty its contents.

"Bit of a weak stomach for a knight wouldn't you say?" Emily says sarcastically as Naomi looks up at her walking away with Mark.

And everyone around her is laughing but Naomi can't find it in her to care because Emily is giving her that challenging look again, as if to say what are you going to do now, and if there's one thing Naomi likes it's a challenge. So she pulls herself up and walks back towards Cook with a smile on her face and watches Effy take off after Emily and Mark.

"Nice stunt Naoms," Cook laughs," Heights not quite your forte but it had style, good effort."

"Thanks," She says with a roll of her eyes when he pats her patronizingly on the back.

"Come on lets go to the beach," Cook says," Its tradition."

"Alright," Naomi agrees, allows Cook to lead her off in the opposite direction from Emily.

The last thing she thinks that night before she allows herself to be taken away in a blur of vodka and Cooks company is that even though Emily is a complete mystery to her, she's never wanted anything more in her life.


	2. Hard to get

**A/N **So heres chapter 2, its another short one but it just seemed like a good place to end it off at the chapters will get longer as I go. Thanks for all the reviews on the last one and i hope you enjoy

* * *

Hard to Get

"Her name is Naomi," Effy says as they are walking down the beaten path towards Emily's parents beach house.

"Yeah, she managed to reveal that amount of information before trying to kill me and harassing me for a date," Emily replies, truth is she's still flustered over the whole thing. She's never met anyone in her life as cocky as this Naomi and she isn't really sure what to do with it.

"Naomi Campbell," Effy elaborates," She's Cook's best friend, apparently has quite the reputation around this town."

"Fucking hell," Emily laughs, Naomi's surname finally sinking in," Her name is Naomi Campbell?" Effy nods," You'd think with a name like that she would try a little harder to blend in. I mean did you see how she just jumped in the cart and pushed Mark away? I mean who does that?"

"You liked it," Effy points out with a smirk.

"No…I didn't," Emily refutes.

"I know you better than anyone Ems, you like her, I can tell from the way you were looking at her when she walked away. No point denying the obvious, that you want to drag her back to yours and shag all night long!" Effy declares.

"Fuck off," Emily says, her cheeks burning with a slight blush at Effy's revelation.

She had to admit that Naomi did have certain attributes, flowing golden hair, an athletic body type that Emily considered pretty much flawless. Built most likely from running on the beach and surfing Emily figures. But that wasn't what caught Emily's attention the most, it was Naomi's eyes, clear crystal blue orbs that Emily just wanted to drown in. She had noticed Naomi's eyes staring at her when she joined them outside the bumper cars, felt them burning in her skin with their intensity. It was then she knew she had to get away from Naomi, because having this girl just looking at her was making her stomach do summersaults. It was to intense so she ran off to Mark hoping for a quick escape, not expecting Naomi to follow like she did. And now she was stuck here feeling oddly attracted against her will to a girl who had the most confidence of anyone she had ever met, and with her sister being Katie Fitch that was saying something.

"Besides even if I did say find her mildly attractive," Emily glares at Effy when she crooks her lips into that knowing smirk," Her personality was enough to extinguish any of it."

"Well she must like you a lot, Cook said he'd never seen her act like that. Said girls normally come to her, that she usually makes little or no effort at all," Effy points out.

Emily scoffs at this, just has the image of Naomi standing there and a circle of women falling at her feet. Knows that Naomi must have never met anyone like her before because Emily wasn't one to just throw herself down like that, no matter how beautiful the girl was.

"Besides Em I don't think it's her personality that's turning you off, I think you like it. I don't think you've ever met anyone like Naomi and it scares you," Effy says softly.

Emily stops just short of the gates to the house, turns to Effy and narrows her eyes.

"Scared of what," Emily asks somewhat challengingly.

"Scared that you might actually fall for her and be forced to finally confront your parents about who you really are. You're scared that Naomi will make you want to stop hiding behind the perfect twin image your mom has built you up to be. you're afraid that Naomi could make you want to scream from the rooftops that you're gay and that you love a girl," Effy explains.

Emily closes her eyes and tries to block everything out but everything Effy just said keeps slipping through her mind until she's forced to focus on the idea that Effy is most likely right. Naomi was certainly not like anyone she had ever met in her life, she was so openly flirtatious like she couldn't care less who knew what she was doing or the fact that she liked girls. Emily envied it really, wishes she could be more open as well but instead she finds herself constantly playing up to her mothers expectations. Going on dates with boys her mother sets her up with just to mute her family's worries that she might be a little different. But maybe Effy was right, maybe the reason Naomi's straight up, bold attitude had stirred such a reaction in her was because it scared her a little. And maybe somewhere deep down she really did wish that she had a bit of Naomi's confidence.

"You're well deluded," is all Emily can come up with when she opens her eyes, doesn't want to give Effy the satisfaction of knowing that one again she is right.

"Whatever you say Em," Effy nods and starts off towards the house," Better hurry up I'm sure your mother is dying to hear you recount your date with Mark."

Emily huffs and glares at Effy who is so obviously taking the piss that it was just plain annoying at this point. She follows a moment later, has to take a minute to calm herself and put on her best "I just had the best date with a boy ever," face on to satisfy her mum. When really the date was quite the opposite, Naomi was right about one thing; Mark was boring he just wandered around following her from ride to ride but refusing to go on any. She found out why when she convinced him to go on the tilt a whirl with her and he threw up on her shoes immediately after. Come to think of it the date at been rather lackluster until Naomi decided to high jack it with her antics, but Emily quickly dispels those thoughts, she isn't meant to be thinking about Naomi right now. And then to make things worse after walking off after the rollercoaster disaster Mark had decided it was a good time to make his move, only trouble was when he bent in to kiss her he tripped over a rock and ended up tackling her to the ground in the process. All in front of Effy, which didn't do much to make the moment any less awkward, especially with her laughing quite loudly and drawing more attention. All in all apart from a few surprises it was a completely shitty night that she was now going to have to spin into a tale of young love for her parents.

By the time Emily finishes recounting the evening to her mother she's so exhausted that she quickly excuses herself from the living room and makes her way up to bed. Passes Effy in the hallway on the way to the bathroom and stops short when Effy smiles and winks at her.

"Sweet dreams Em, though I'm sure yours will be," She says

Emily just shakes her head and continues on her path, knows better than to dignify Effy's teasing with a response, it was much easier to just grin and bear it. After washing up and brushing her teeth Emily climbs in her bed, gets comfortable and closes her eyes. Tries not to think about Naomi Campbell or anything else that happened in this horror of a day. She dreams of sun, and the ocean and blonde and blue that night, and when she wakes up the next morning she tries to tell herself that it has nothing to do with anyone, that it was just a dream but finds herself wondering who she's trying to convince.

Its about a week later when Emily sees Naomi again, just when she's managed to push the blonde out of her thoughts she sees her out of the corner of her eye when she's walking down the street. Naomi is walking with a group of people, Emily recognizes Cook but the others are strangers, and they're all wearing wet suits of some sort and Emily figures they must have just come from the beach. She doesn't expect Naomi to come walking her way minutes later, had figured that she would have forgotten about her and moved on to one of her other hussies by now. Apparently Naomi was quite a legend around town, had quite a talent for attracting female attention and had no trouble pulling girls straight or not, Effy had spent the last week filling Emily in against her will about all of Naomi's legendary rendezvous'. So when Naomi picks up in a light jog to catch up to her it catches Emily off guard for a moment. Tells herself that she has to be strong and resist no matter how much charm Naomi tries to lay on her, refuses to be another notch on Naomi Campbell's bedpost.

"Do you remember me?" Naomi asks when she catches up and begins walking beside Emily.

Emily chances a glance, sees that Naomi has rolled her wet suit down around her waist and was clearly sporting a bright red bikini top. It distracts her for a minute before she remembers her goal, to play hard to get and give her a run for her money.

"Oh yeah didn't I see you tossing in a garbage can?" Emily mocks gently," How could I forget that?"

Emily watches as Naomi looks down for a moment, shakes her head before bringing her eyes back up to meet Emily's with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah I wanted to clear that up with you," Naomi says, maneuvering herself in front of Emily trying to force her to stop and listen but Emily keeps on walking making Naomi walk backwards in front of her," I'm really sorry about that, it was a really stupid thing to do, you know jumping in next to you and pushing Mark out of the way but I just had to be near you."

Naomi does stop then, her eyes boring into Emily's and for a split second Emily believes her. Emily stops then, standing in front of Naomi; stares back just as deeply wondering what she's going to come up with next.

"I was being drawn to you, I couldn't help it," Naomi continues, and Emily can't help but laugh because it sounds like the worlds worst pick up line, for someone with Naomi's reputation she had expected something a little smoother.

"Oh wow what a line that was," Emily laughs as she watches Naomi shake her head," Do you use that on all the girls?"

"No," Naomi shakes her head again.

And Emily doesn't know what to believe anymore because Naomi just looks so sincere and it's contradicting everything she's heard about her, and she wonders for a second if maybe everyone has Naomi wrong. But then she remembers Effy telling her about seeing Naomi at a club earlier in the week with some blonde bimbo and she remembers why she's wary of the girl despite the obvious attraction. So she starts walking again, and Naomi keeps shuffling backwards so she's still in front of her.

"What are you doing tonight?" Naomi says and Emily stops again because she wasn't expecting that, not after everything she had just said.

"What?"

"Or tomorrow night, or this weekend?" Naomi keeps going, stuttering slightly and rambling, something that Emily finds painfully cute but tries to keep in.

"Why?" Emily asks because she is actually confused now.

"Our date," Naomi replies like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"What date," Emily says

"You know the date you agreed to," Naomi keeps pressing.

She isn't smiling anymore Emily notices, she looks dead serious and if Emily's completely honest Naomi looks quite nervous, another thing she wasn't expecting not after their previous encounter. Perhaps Naomi was more full of surprises than she thought.

"No," Emily says

"Yes you promised," Naomi interrupts

"Well I guess I changed my mind then," Emily brushes past Naomi and keeps walking, figures Naomi would give up by now but learns quickly that isn't the case when she keeps following.

"Look I get it okay," Naomi somehow manages to get in front of her again and forces Emily to stop," You don't know me, you get a stranger coming up to you on the street and its weird okay. But there's something about you Emily, I can't explain it because I can't even understand it honestly but its like I can't get you out of my head. And when I see something that I want I go for it you know?"

Emily smiles shaking her head, thinks Naomi's really pulling out all the stops on this one. She's persistent that's one thing Emily will give her she really doesn't give up.

" You're good," Emily says through a disbelieving smile," you're really good."

"What?" Naomi replies looking completely confused now.

"You're fantastic," Emily continues.

"No, you're getting me all wrong," Naomi says seriously," I'm not normally like this."

Emily just keeps looking at her, waging whether she's able to believe anything the girl is saying or whether it's all just a load of shit. But there's something about the look on Naomi's face that's causing Emily to think that maybe she might be being sincere.

"I can be fun, pensive…smart…superstitious," Naomi starts naming off, laughing awkwardly in the middle as if she doesn't know what she's doing anymore," Brave, uh light on my feet," she starts shuffling around and Emily can't help but crack a smile because she really does look ridiculous," I can be whatever you want, just tell me what you want and I'll be that for you."

Naomi is looking at her expectantly, waiting for some sort of reaction but Emily doesn't really even know how to respond because Naomi just looks like she's floundering here. Like she's thrown completely off her game and is clinging to anything to keep herself afloat.

"You're dumb," Decides to keep up with her strategy of teasing

Doesn't expect Naomi's face to drop and go completely sullen in front of her.

"I can be that," Naomi nods.

Emily feels a rush of something then, must be affection because all she really wants to do it take Naomi by the hand and tell her that she isn't dumb at all that she actually seems rather bright and that she verbally spars pretty well. Keeps playing coy though because she wants to know if Naomi is for real about this thing, wants to know if she'll keep trying even if Emily doesn't give her much to work with. She walks by Naomi with a smile and heads towards her dad's car, hops in the passenger seat and waits for him to finish up at the store so they can go home.

"Come on just one date what can it hurt?" She hears Naomi yelling and rolls down her window."

"Nope," she yells back.

"What can I do to change you're mind," Naomi says

Emily smiles at the thought of Naomi not giving up so easily, thinks to herself that if Naomi is being this persistent it must mean that it means something to her. Decides then to give her something to go off of, to let her know that she's interested but will need some convincing.

"I guess you'll have to think of something," Emily shouts and rolls the window back up.

Seconds later her dad shows up and she's driving off watching Naomi standing there with her hands on her hips biting her lip in the rearview mirror as they drive away.

"Maybe this summer won't be so horrible after all," she thinks to herself.


	3. Follow the light

**A/N **A bit of a wait but here's a longer one for you, thank you for the lovely reviews and please don't hesitate to drop another one :)

**Follow the light**

"So are you going to help me or not," Naomi asks, staring impatiently at Cook.

They've been sitting on the beach for an hour after a late afternoon surf, what they always did on the odd occurrence that the both of them had the day off it was kind of a ritual. Only Naomi also saw today as the perfect chance to run some idea's by Cook of how to win over Emily, knowing that if Cook was with her he could surely pull Effy and ultimately would give her an advantage with Emily.

"I just think you should count your loses with this one Naomi, I know it must be a blow to your ego but she just doesn't like you blondie," Cook responds," Just chalk it up to a good effort and pull someone else."

Naomi sighs outwardly at Cooks inability to understand that it isn't as easy as just forgetting about the whole thing. Thinks that if her best friend, someone who knows her better than anyone, can't understand it then how is she expected to either?

"You don't get it James I can't just move on, something just wont let me. There's just something about her, I've never felt it before, its like even when she's mocking or insulting me its alright because at least she's allowing me to be in her presence."

"Fuck Naomi, you're sounding dangerously close to being in love with her," Cook points out," You're fucking freaking me out here!"

Love, a four letter word that has frightened Naomi for as long as she can remember. Because it isn't just a word, it's a feeling and quite honestly feelings scare the shit out of her. They are messy and complicated and learning from her moms experience love just causes you a whole load of pain in the long run, and often times the scars never fully heal.

"Its not love," Naomi denies while wondering to herself what it actually was that she was feeling for Emily because it was definitely new to her," Its infatuation, not love."

"What ever you say Naomi, but just so you know infatuation is the prequel to love,"

"Why are you pushing this?" Naomi asks, not having the energy to argue anymore, besides she couldn't be in love with Emily, they've only had 2 conversations in their whole lives and love at first sight is bullshit and Naomi knows it.

"I've just never seen you be so persistent before, figured that this one must be something special," Cook explains.

"I never said she wasn't special," Naomi says softly, digging her feet into the sand so they're almost completely hidden," Now are you going to help me or not? Beware I am willing to revoke best friend status if necessary."

"Well in that case get to fuck!" Cook grins, wincing playfully when Naomi slaps him across the arm," Fine fine I'll talk to Ef, see what we can work out. Don't know what good it'll do, I mean if the girl wanted to go out with you she would have said yes when you asked."

Naomi shakes her head, wonders how Cook ever gets laid when he so obviously doesn't know a thing about understanding women, he's really fucking lucky he's cute she thinks.

"She's playing hard to get Cook, she's got this image in her head of me as this barracuda of a girl that just wants to screw her and then fuck off. Thank you but the way for filling in Effy on my past dating history, she ran straight to Emily and now I look like some heartless slut," Naomi glares and Cook raises his hands in defeat.

"Well your track record kind of speaks for itself," Cook says through a laugh, receiving another smack from Naomi in return.

"Fuck you!" Naomi exclaims.

Later that night Cook calls and tells Naomi that he's spoken to Effy and that her and Emily will be attending the beach party on Friday and Naomi can't think of a better opportunity. This way it won't look super staged like it would if she crashed some other even with just Cook Effy and Emily. This is her town, she has no reason to not go to this party and Emily must know this, so her presence there really shouldn't be much of a surprise.

She finds herself getting nervous as Friday wears on, she almost drives her boat full of tourists into a large protruding rock because she's so lost in thought about what she's going to say to Emily in a few hours from now. Hates that Emily seems to effortlessly throw her completely off her game, makes her feel completely uncomfortable in her own skin. She's swiftly brought out of her musings by the large, hairy, sweaty shirtless man who taps her on the shoulder and points at the rock she's heading for. Once she recovers and apologizes to her passengers she catches him wink at her, shudders at the memory of how he insisted on using her as a floatation device earlier when she took them snorkeling. She really needs this night with Emily to go well now, if for nothing other than to erase the mental image of his hairy body touching hers, she's gagging just thinking about it.

Finally after stopping at one last spot and letting them get in the water one last time (in which she refused to go in the water much to hairy sweaty's dismay) she was letting them off her boat, accepting tips and tying it up for the evening.

Looking at her watch she sees that its just after six, she was to meet up with Cook at eight and they were meeting Effy and Emily shortly after. Just enough time to run home and get ready, figures that Emily wouldn't appreciate her smelling like a fish, though Naomi quite liked the smell of the ocean she was pretty sure Emily wouldn't feel the same. So she throws her keys to Josh, the poor sucker she got stuck working the night shift, though Naomi was sure no one would even come in other than a few drunk idiots needing to fill their boats up for a night of drunken debauchery on the water, to say she didn't envy Josh was an understatement. After sharing a few pleasantries with her boss and agreeing to pick up an extra surf lesson for the next afternoon she was on her way home.

She uses the back door as to avoid her mother or any of the other 20 strangers who could be frequenting her house at any given time. Runs straight to her bedroom, avoiding the naked guy in the hall listening to a Walkman, and locks the door. Fuck was she ever glad that she had her own bathroom sometimes. Letting the water run over her she sighs, grabbing blindly for body wash and praying that its industrial strength to wash away any last remnants of the truly shitty day she just had.

She thinks she must have lost track of time in the shower because when she's out and dried off its already 7:30 and she's rushing to finish getting ready before Cook shows up.

She's still in her robe staring at her outfit choices hopelessly when his bellowing voice fills the room.

"Oi lezzer open the door," Cook shouts.

And Naomi stares at the door a minute with a smile on her face before letting him in and eyeing him with amusement.

"Naoms babes you're fit and all but even you can't pull off the bath robe look." Cook says as he throws himself on her bed.

"James, you're "fit" and all," Naomi mocks his tone," but even you can't pull of using British slang with a completely American accent! Been spending a bit to much time with Effy methinks?"

"Fuck off," is Cook's reply," less talking and more getting dressed, and something hot because from what Ef tells me Ems is looking smoking."

"Fuck," Naomi sighs, riffling frantically through her closet for something, as if she wasn't on edge enough now she had to worry about what she was going to wear too? If this was what liking someone felt like she wasn't sure if she wanted to anymore.

"Naomi just take a breath and calm down will you," Cook insists, feeling anxious himself just from watching her fret.

"How can I calm down!" I haven't even picked out an outfit! I'm useless at this whole trying to impress her thing, I liked it better when I didn't give a shit!" Naomi pouts.

"Then don't give a shit then," Cook offers," She's playing with you Naomi, wants to see how hard you'll try but she told Ef that she likes you so I'm pretty sure it won't take too much effort."

Naomi feels the tension in her body begin to relax Cook's words. Even though she had a pretty good idea that Emily liked her it felt nice to have some reassurance, it gave her some small semblance of her confidence back.

"Okay, good," Naomi says finally, noticing Cook smiling at her new calm demeanor.

"Now there's the Naomi I know, the other neurotic one was starting to creep me out," Cook teases, grinning at the glare he receives for his efforts," Now If I can offer another piece of advice?" Cook waits for Naomi's nod," Just wear a pair of shorts and a tank top. It's simple and doesn't look like you were fretting over it but still looks good. Because Naomi, and I'll kill you if you repeat this to anyone, have very nice legs, might as well show them off yeah?"

Naomi raised her eyebrow in surprise at his declaration.

"Been perving on me this whole time haven't you," Naomi grinned.

"Don't pretend that you don't know how hot you are Naomi, you've been told a million times I'm sure,"

"Well maybe so, but never by you Perve!" Naomi continues to prod.

Cook gets off the bed and walks towards Naomi feigning a menacing stance.

"You know there's still time for me to sabotage this date," Cook threatens," I'm sure Emily would love to hear about Holly, or Jessica, or what was that random blonde girls name from that one time in the club, oh that's right you never got it!"

"You wouldn't dare," Naomi calls his bluff.

"Wouldn't I," Cook takes out his phone, his fingers hovering teasingly over the buttons seemingly ready to call up Emily at a moments notice.

Naomi holds her ground until Cook dials two numbers, grabs the phone out of his hand then and throws it on the bed.

"Fine," she concedes," I won't mention it again."

"Good," Cook grins," Now get dressed or we'll be late."

"Well get the fuck out then," Naomi looks at him expectantly, can't help but let one last tease escape after," as if I'm going to change in front of you now that I know you're harboring secret pervy feelings for me!"

"Whatever you love it," he says before turning and heading towards the door," hurry up lezzar," he shouts as he opens the door, disappears behind it before she has a chance to respond.

It doesn't take her long then, takes Cook's advice and pulls on a pair of black shorts and a white top, quickly pulls her hair into a messy braid on the side of her head and straightens out her bangs. Takes one last once over of her appearance in the mirror before grabbing her bag and leaving the room in search of Cook. Who she finds after a minute downstairs in the kitchen talking to "the messiah" or whatever the fuck he was asking to be called this week, Naomi narrows her eyes at Cook and tilts her head to the side towards the door, hoping that he would get the hint, which he eventually did.

"Is it just me or are the house guests getting stranger with time," Cook asks when they're out the door and finally walking towards the beach.

"Don't even get me started," Naomi replies with a laugh, honestly she had given up trying to understand her mothers inclination to take in any random person who came stumbling by her doorstep, figures she'll never understand so why bother trying.

Its then that she notices them, Effy and Emily standing on the outskirts of the crowd, obviously waiting for Cook before delving further into the crowd of strangers. Cook was right earlier Emily really did look fucking stunning, donning a short denim skirt and black top, hair straight and her fringe covering her forehead the way it had been that night at the carnival. Cook gives her shoulder a squeeze when he notices her staring. Naomi takes it as an act of comfort, as if he could just sense her nerves starting to creep up, so she looks at him and offers a sheepish grin and continues to follow him towards their destination. As soon as they get close enough for Emily to notice her presence she shoots Effy a look that doesn't go unnoticed by Naomi, she's just not quite she what to make of it at the moment. Simply stands in front of Emily when Cook takes his spot in front of Effy, and its awkward for a minute but she stays there regardless.

"So Emily you remember Naomi right?" Cook breaks the tension.

Emily looks from him to Effy and then back to him with an awkward smile on her face.

"Oh course how could I forget," Emily replies, glaring playfully at Effy out of the corner of her eye.

"Good now it's a fucking party so shall we," Cook gestures towards the group of people scattered along the beach.

"Yes," Effy replies, snaking her arm around Cooks waist and leading him towards the party, leaving Emily staring at Naomi expectantly for a minute. When Naomi doesn't say anything Emily sighs and starts off towards the party herself leaving Naomi standing along holding her hands over her eyes.

That was not how she wanted that to go, she was looking to be smooth to say something witty, heck she would have even settled for saying something stupid as long as something would have come out of her mouth.

"Fucking pull it together Campbell," Naomi sighs to herself and drags herself towards the party.

Its about an hour later when Naomi finds Emily again, she's sitting on some rocks staring aimlessly at the sky while Cook and Effy are making out on the rock next to her. Naomi feels quite bad for her actually, knows that the red head isn't the most sociable and now here she is not knowing any one but the two horny teenagers next to her and a girl who seems to lose the ability to speak when around her, she can't be having a very good time. Naomi decides to tell her nerves to fuck off at that point, walks to the keg and gets two beers, mixes a vodka cran and a rum and coke and carries them all, with great difficulty she finds, to Emily taking the open spot next to her.

"Drink?" Naomi offers smiling," They aren't drugged I swear," she adds when Emily seems reluctant.

Emily smiles then, and it makes Naomi's stomach flip in an irritating way but she kind of likes it, thinks it's the first time she's seen Emily smile all night.

"From what I hear you don't need to take such drastic measures to get some action," Emily blurts out, feeling slightly guilty about her outburst when Naomi's face drops.

"Look I just wanted to offer you a drink okay?" Naomi says, feeling irritated with Emily's inability to look beyond her past," You just looked like you weren't having a very good time but how about I leave you to it."

She gets up to leave but stops when she feels Emily's hand tugging on her own. Looks down and sees Emily looking up at her, brown eyes pleading her not to leave, and as if she could say no to that.

"No stay…please," Emily says softly," Honestly the last five minutes were the only ones of tonight that haven't been complete shit."

"Okay," Naomi concedes, sitting back down next to Emily.

It takes her a minute to notice that their hands are still intertwined, and for once in her life she doesn't feel the intense desire to flee. Emily must notice her staring because she quickly retracts her hand and intertwines it in her own and places them on her lap.

"Sorry," Emily says.

"Its okay," Naomi assures her, loves the adorable red color that takes over Emily's face," So how about that drink?"

"Well what do you have?" Emily asks.

Naomi picks up each of the drinks that she had laid on the rock next to her and offers each one to Emily, smiling when Emily takes the vodka cran. It was the one she had figured Emily would go for.

"Christ did you bring the whole bar," Emily laughs as she accepts her cup.

"Well I didn't know what you were drinking, figured you would like some options," Naomi replies, and Emily smiles at her again, that same smile that made her melt earlier.

"You're actually quite sweet aren't you Naomi?" Emily takes a sip of her drink, watches as Naomi sips her beer slowly and eyes her curiously, eyes dancing with amusement.

"As opposed to what, the heartless Kracken that you were making me out to be?" Naomi says.

"Yeah sorry about that," Emily's eyes soften and Naomi can't help but believe her," I was just hearing lots of things and it had me turned around you know?"

Naomi nods, understands completely with the way this town works, surely Emily had been warned from several sources of her escapades. But it was nice to know that Emily was now seeing something different underneath it all, or maybe it was always there and Emily was the first one Naomi actually wanted to see it.

"Its alright, I know this town talks," Naomi points out," I don't blame you for thinking the worst of me."

Emily shakes her head and brings her eyes up to meet Naomi's in an intense gaze, feels to Naomi somewhat reminiscent of Effy's steely gaze for a moment, the one where it feels as if the other person is seeing right into her soul.

"You aren't what they say you are," Emily says with conviction

Naomi smiles awkwardly, looking at Emily somewhat in disbelief. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, when a person gets called something enough its just natural to give in and start to believe it yourself; it's not easy to break a stereotype. Naomi decides to be bold, reaches out and grasps Emily's hand in her own again, waits for Emily to flinch or pull her hand away but it doesn't come. Instead she feels Emily squeeze back, twining their fingers together and smiling shyly at her.

They spend the next couple hours taking about everything under the sun, Cook and Effy, favorite music, books and movies, the superficial parts of life that end up building a person into who they are. By the time Naomi starts giving Emily who's who of the people at the party they notice that Cook and Effy have disappeared from the rock they were just frequenting.

"We should probably go look for them, Effy's my ride home," Emily says, standing up and reluctantly letting go of Naomi's hand.

"Sure," Naomi agrees, can't believe that they had gotten so caught up in conversation that they hadn't noticed Cook and Effy leaving," Lets go."

They find Cook and Effy sitting in what Naomi presumed to be Effy's car, still kissing, Effy almost over into Cook's seat. Naomi clears her throat, smirks when the two of them pull apart instantly looking at her and Emily. Naomi leans towards Emily's ear, whispers low enough for Cook and Effy not to hear.

"Do you wanna walk with me? I'd like to show you something."

Emily smiles and nods murmuring a "sure" back in Naomi's ear.

"We're going to walk," Naomi directs her attention back to Cook and Effy, ignores the smirks they bother were casting in her direction.

"Okay Ems, I won't wait up," Effy smirks

"Have fun," Cook bellows as they drive away

Naomi runs her hand over the back of her neck, sneaking a sideways glance at Emily who's blushing again but smiling all the same.

"Not the most subtle are they?" Emily laughs eyes meeting Naomi's once again.

"Not at all," Naomi agrees," But to be fair they are the ones who tipped me off that you'd be here tonight, so I guess I have them to thank."

"You wouldn't have come otherwise?" Emily asks, suddenly curious because the Naomi she thought she knew was one who would never turn down a party.

"Probably not, this isn't really my scene," Naomi admits

"Well I guess I should thank Cook and Effy then because otherwise I would have been sitting around waiting for you to show up and the night really would have been utter shit," Emily says eyes burning into Naomi's," Now didn't you want to show me something?"

_Fuck yes_ Naomi thinks, she wants to show Emily lots of things, maybe more than she'd ever shown anyone before, even Cook. Settles for taking her hand again and leading her towards the docks, figures that showing her this was a good way to start. Loving that every couple minutes if she looks over she can catch Emily looking back at her in wonder, quickly reverting her eyes when she notices Naomi has caught her.

"You're not going to kill me are you?" Emily grins playfully, squeezing Naomi's hand slightly as they approach the docks.

"Ah see now you've ruined it Em, it was supposed to be a surprise," Naomi jokes, raising her eyebrow and fixing Emily with a gaze. But Emily is to focused on the fact that Naomi has just called her Em.

She had never been a fan of the shortened form of her name, figures her mum gave have a full name for a reason. In fact the only two people who had ever gotten away with calling her Em were Effy and Katie, and only because they just wouldn't not call her it. But now hearing Naomi say it, it suddenly didn't sound so bad, sounded pretty fucking lovely actually. She must have been casting an odd look because before she knows it Naomi stops and looks at her, eyes laced with worry, looking like she's about to apologize.

"Em?" Naomi says, and there it is again the nickname falling gracefully off Naomi's tongue, and Emily thinks that nothing has sounded more right.

"Its nothing," Emily assures but continues when Naomi doesn't look convinced," It's just, you called me Em."

Naomi panics for a minute, eyes widening. Truth was she hardly even realized she wasn't using Emily's full name, the nickname just flowed naturally off her tongue. But maybe Emily didn't like to be called that, Naomi didn't ask after all.

"Shit Em…shit, I mean Emily! Sorry do you not like to be called that?" Naomi rambles.

Emily can't help but smile at the state she has worked Naomi into, clearly panicked, trying desperately to fix things.

"No its nothing like that, it just sounded nice is all," Emily blushes when Naomi smirks at her," You know coming from you."

Naomi releases the breath she had no idea she had been holding, she was so sure she had ruined it that time, but someone must have felt like throwing her a bone on this one. Or maybe it was that she was slowly feeling less and less nervous around Emily now, the more time she spends with her the more she realizes that this little red head is nothing to be scared of after all.

"Well then…Em," Naomi punctuates the name clearly much to Emily's delight," This is my boat," Naomi points out in front of her," Well not mine I guess but it's the one I drive at work," Naomi explains.

Emily's eyes it, she's never really been a fan of anything that floats, has a slight fear of drowning ever since an incident at the lake back home. But Naomi was now standing on the boat and holding her hand out to help Emily on.

"We're not going to take it out," Naomi says sensing Emily's hesitation.

"Okay," Emily says after taking a deep breath," I just have some issues with water," She continues but takes Naomi's hand anyways, trying to calm the shaking of her own.

"I've got you," Naomi says seriously, blue eyes reflecting sincerity back at Emily," I'm a life guard Em, nothing will happen to you I promise."

So Emily takes the leap forward (which in reality is more like a small step down onto the boat, but it feels like so much more in the moment) and before she knows it she's standing on solid ground again, and with Naomi being on a glorified floatation device doesn't seem as terrifying. She's not sure what it is about the taller girl that makes her feels safe, knows it could be the obvious, that Naomi can clearly swim as she basically lives on the water. but Emily feels like its more than that, like some how she could face all her fears with Naomi by her side.

Naomi beckons her up to the front of the boat where she spreads out a blanket and pats the space next to her for Emily to lie down. Reaches her hand up automatically as if she knew Emily would need steadying. And when Emily lays down beside her and looks up at the stars she thinks how about how peaceful it all really is, the gentle rocking of the boat, the stars and the comforting presence of Naomi's arm touching hers.

"This is what you love isn't it?" Emily finally breaks the silence," Being on the water."

Naomi smiles and lolls her head to the side to nod at Emily.

"My dad used to take me out on the water, swimming, floating just like this, just whatever, I can't remember a time when I was happier then when I was on the water with him," Naomi says.

Emily smiles, pictures a little blonde haired wide eye'd Naomi jumping around in the water with her dad.

"Used to? Why did you stop?" Emily asks, curiosity creeping up inside her, driving her to learn as much as she could about Naomi.

Naomi shuts her eyes at Emily's question, it was inevitable that it would come up, it was part of her and getting close to Emily meant showing her everything. It was difficult though, her dad had always been a touchy subject, on that even Cook would usually not touch. Emily noticed the atmosphere change, felt Naomi tense beside her and began silently cursing herself for ruining a damn near perfect moment by bringing up something obviously painful.

"You don't have to tell me," Emily says softly, the last thing she wants is Naomi to go running back scared into her shell.

She considers it for a moment, considers not telling Emily, keeping everything buried and locked up. but something makes her decide against it, figures that so far with Emily she's been doing the opposite of her instincts and it's worked quite well.

"No its okay," Naomi says, watches as Emily props herself up on one elbow to look at her properly," My dad, well the way I remember him to be from when I was little was a great man, very loving. He used to own this marina actually, me him and my mom would spend our weekends here on the beach, he taught me how to surf and everything."

Emily nodded at her to continue.

"My uncle passed away when I was nine and that was when it all turned to shit. My dad and him were close, like pretty much best friends. And thats when we saw a change in him, you know drinking, affairs, drugs, gambling, pretty much any self destructive activity he could get his hands on. Eventually he lost the marina to his gambling debts, left me and mom with nothing. Sad thing was at my 10th birthday I still wanted him to come, we had this tradition where we would pack a lunch and take the boat out on my birthdays, and despite everything I was excited at the thought of that day. He showed up 2 hours late, drunk out of his mind, shouting at my mom, and then he fucking hit her," Naomi's fist clenched at the memory until she felt Emily's cover her own, an attempt to be comforting, which Naomi appreciated. Allowing the feeling of Emily's thumb brushing over the back of her hand to soothe her," The cops came, took him away and he disappeared for a couple years. Heard from him when I was 12, he sent my mom divorce papers, apparently he'd cleaned up and met someone new and they wanted to get married. Last I heard he was living up the coast with 2 new kids, he doesn't even call."

To say Emily was appalled would have been an understatement. Her family had its flaws like any other but she had been nothing but loved her entire life. Couldn't imagine how hard Naomi's childhood must have been, makes a mental note to hug her dad when she sees him next.

"I don't know what to say," Emily says honestly, looking down at Naomi with sympathetic eyes.

"You don't have to say anything," Naomi assures her," I'm fine now," She smiles up at the red head," I've never told anyone that whole story before."

Emily's eyes widen at this, feels completely special knowing that Naomi trusted her with that. No one in her life had ever made her feel like Naomi was right now.

"Not even Cook?" Naomi shakes her head," Why me?"

"I honestly can't answer that," Naomi shrugs," You make me feel safe I guess, there's just something about you."

Emily feels tears welling in her eyes, takes a breath to stop them from spilling over. Doesn't need to ask Naomi to elaborate because she understands completely what the blonde is getting at because Emily feels the same way.

"I know the feeling," Emily admits smiling shyly at Naomi," I wouldn't be caught dead on this boat otherwise."

"What's your problem with water?" Naomi asks," You looked terrified when I asked you on."

She figures she owes Naomi complete honesty after the girl had just bared her soul like she had.

"There's this lake near my house back in Bristol that my dad used to take me and Katie to when we were younger," Emily starts," Katie's my sister, my twin actually."

Naomi's eyebrows shoot up, which Emily doesn't miss, she slaps Naomi playfully on the arm.

"You had better not be thinking pervy thoughts right now," Emily says," Because one Katie's straight, and two that's incest!"

Naomi laughs, tugs Emily's hand closer so its laying flat on her stomach, palm up. Starts drawing random shapes on it causing Emily to lose her train of though for a minute.

"Just amazed that there's two of you is all," Naomi says

"We aren't the same believe me," Emily clears up," Anyways long story short we went to the lake and Katie being the brave one just jumped right in but I was scared. She eventually got tired of playing alone and got out to try and convince me to go in but I wouldn't. When my dad wasn't looking she shoved me in, but I lost my footing and smacked my head on a rock before falling in. All I remember is waking up on the side, my dad and Katie hovering over me looking terrified. And ever since I've had a slight water phobia, I never learned to swim because of it which really just furthers the fear because if I ever did end up in water I wouldn't be able to save myself."

"I'll teach you to swim if you want?" Naomi offers once Emily is finished.

"Maybe one day," Emily concedes, closes her eyes and enjoys the feeling of Naomi's fingers trailing along her hand and up her forearm.

"So why are you here for the summer without Katie?" Naomi asks, wonders why she hasn't asked Emily why they were here before, seems like the most obvious question of all.

"We're looking at American schools, it's mom and dad's dream for me to go to an ivy league university," Emily explains," Katie's getting married in the fall to football player, that was her dream so she's stayed back home to set everything up. She works for my mum at the wedding planning business "Getting Fitched", yes I know lame name you don't need to point it out."

Naomi sits up and crosses her legs, turning to face Emily, still holding her hand in her lap. Wants to be able to see her face when she asks the next question.

"So what's your dream then?" she says

"I just told you," Emily laughs," We're here looking at schools remember?"

"No you said it was your parents dream," Naomi points out," How come Katie gets her own dream but you follow what your parents set for you?"

Sitting up and facing Naomi Emily squints, tries to come up with some logical explanation for the question but can't think of one. Its just how its always been, Katie was the free spirit and Emily was the book worm, the one that was going to follow the path set out for her and would never dare stray off of it. It was one of the main reasons why she down played her sexuality from them, knowing it wouldn't fit into the life they had planned out for her. They knew she was gay Emily was sure, but were living in complete denial at the moment.

"I don't know," Emily says finally

"Well what do you do for fun? What do you love?" Naomi pushes.

All that comes to mind at first are things her parents had pushed her into over the years, piano lessons, extra courses, tennis, all things that she hadn't particularly enjoyed at all, just did because she saw them as a necessity. There was one thing Emily thinks, a hobby she kept hidden away from everyone other than Effy.

"I paint," Emily declares," I love to paint."

"See that's what I'm talking about," Naomi smiles," You have a dream of your own, don't let everyone else's over shadow that."

Emily looks at her, like properly looks at her for the first time that night. Takes in the way Naomi's eye's seem to twinkle in the light, the way the moonlight highlights the hue of her hair, the gentle smile that's gracing her features at the moment.

"You're rather fucking lovely aren't you," Emily blurts out and Naomi's taken aback, no one's ever said anything even close to that about her before.

"Depends on who you ask," Naomi tries to joke but Emily isn't having it, isn't going to let Naomi's inability to accept a compliment to ruin the moment.

"I'm saying it," Emily replies strongly.

Naomi's the first one to lean in, somewhat hesitantly at first because quite frankly she's fucking nervous again and she wants to make complete sure this is what Emily wants. Feels her confidence grow when Emily licks her lips before leaning in as well and meeting Naomi somewhere in the middle.

And of all the kisses Naomi had experience in her life, and there had been a lot, she had never had one that had even come close to this one. It was soft and gentle and dare she say loving, the type of kiss she hadn't allowed herself to have with anyone else before. Emily's lips were slowly gliding over her own, her hand making its way up to rest on the back of Naomi's neck, sending a shiver down her spine. Naomi opens her mouth more and presses forward into Emily a little harder, feels Emily respond by tightening her hold on her neck and allowing her tongue to massage against Naomi's.

And just like that it's over, and Emily's resting her forehead against Naomi's still and they're both breathing heavily and it's the most intense thing Naomi has ever experienced in her life. Emily pulls her back down so they're lying down again, feels the smaller girl curl herself slightly as if to meld herself into Naomi's form. And Naomi finds her arm wrapping itself around Emily on its own accord, pulling her closer.

And Naomi never expected it to be so nice, just lying with someone, just being close to someone. Its so different than what she's used to, the desperate urge to flee is not present, she just feels content. Thinks she likes this much better, thinks she could really get used to it.


	4. First Date

**A/N Sorry i've taken so long to update i've gotten a new roommate who keeps dragging me out to party so I haven't had a lot of free time to write. But here's the new chapter, another fluffy one i suppose but I really wanted to write their first date. So I hope you enjoy and keep reviewing because they make me feel all warm and gushy inside ha ha**

First Date

There aren't many moments in life that you can look back on and say that's when it all changed, moments that produce a tangible shift in things like walking through a portal into another world. But Naomi knows that she's had one, that night on the boat with Emily changed everything, changed her, for the better. it was like she was seeing the world through new Emily tinted glasses, no longer hiding behind sarcasm and quick wit. It was useless anyways; Emily had made it quite clear that she could see Naomi, deep down to her core no matter how hard the blonde tried to hide.

They soon became inseparable, almost more so than Cook and Effy, only a week after the beach party and Naomi had seen or at least spoken to Emily every day. They hadn't discussed what they were, just enjoyed getting to know each other better. It wasn't until Thursday when Emily finally got fed up with waiting for Naomi to ask and brought it up herself.

"So are you ever going to ask me out or are we planning on spending the rest of the summer skirting around it?" Emily asks.

They are sitting at the pier, Emily's eating an ice cream and Naomi almost chokes on her slush puppy at Emily's words. Truth was she was planning on asking Emily out on a proper date for days now, but her nerves kept getting the best of her. Which was completely ridiculous because Emily had made it clear that everything Naomi was feeling was welcomed and returned, but she had just never been on a real date, didn't have the slightest clue as to how to ask or what to do on one.

"Of course I was going to," Naomi says once she's cleared her throat and recovered from the near choking incident.

"Well its taking you long enough, what's wrong Naoms? Scared I'll say no?" Emily teases, watches as Naomi's cheeks flush and realizes that she actually has been nervous to ask," Christ I mean come on, we hang out everyday, we talk on the phone when we aren't together, you hold my hand when we walk Naoms! Do I even need to mention the kiss last night outside my house? We're pretty much dating already Naomi its just not official yet."

Naomi flushes some more, if this was what dating was like she's not sure why she spent so much time and energy running from it in the past because really so far its been quite wonderful. Knows that it has more to do with Emily that makes it great rather than the act of a relationship itself though.

"I know that Emily, and its been great but I've just never actually been on a proper date before," Naomi confesses with a shy smile.

And now Emily is confused because from what she understood Naomi had quite a large dating history, she had actually been quite intimidated by it when she first heard, one of the many reasons she had kept her guard up with Naomi at first.

"But you've had girlfriends?" Emily asks

"I've had girls," Naomi cringes at the way it sounds," Just never you know…went out…"

"Oh," Emily replies, beginning to feel deflated at her lack of experience compared to Naomi's.

Naomi notices her turn her attentions back to her cone, looking completely self-conscious now, which was the last thing Naomi wanted. So she reaches across the table and links their fingers together, which causes Emily to smile regardless of the unpleasant thoughts swimming around in her head at the moment, the majority of them consisting of Naomi with her hand up some slags skirt against some dirty wall at some dirty club.

"Em," Naomi says, waits to continue until 2 vulnerable brown eyes lift up to meet hers," Look I know I've done a lot in the past, and honestly I'm not proud of the majority of i. But the thing is I've always been terrified of letting anyone close to me, that's why I acted the way I did," Emily nods for her to continue," And then you come along, Emily fucking Fitch, and turned my life upside down. You somehow in a week managed to pull me out of my shell. And no I've never really had a proper girlfriend, because I've never really gave a shit until now. I've never wanted to take anyone out, or speak to them every night before bed, or wanted to introduce anyone to my mom or Cook even. But I want all of that with you, that is if you'll have me? So what do you say, come out with me tomorrow night, like a real official first date?"

Her stomach was fluttering with the familiar butterflies she got when around Naomi lately. Decides that actions speak louder than words and reaches her free hand across the table and without warning rubs her ice cream on the side of Naomi's mouth. The blonde barely has time to react before Emily's leaning across the table and kissing her. Delicately cleaning up the ice cream off her lips with her tongue and Naomi thinks vanilla ice cream will forever be Emily to her now as she smiles into the kiss.

"I'll take that as a yes then?" Naomi says as she wipes any excess ice cream that Emily had left behind.

"I think its safe to say so Naoms, Jesus read the signals and keep up," Emily pins her with a sly grin and feels her stomach drop in a good way.

Emily wasn't sure what to expect as she sat in her lounge wait for Naomi to show up. After Naomi's confession about her lack of date experience Emily just assumed Naomi would pick her up and they would go to a film or something. But Naomi was being so secretive all day that Emily was starting to get anxious.

She felt a bit guilty though, after telling Naomi to face her fears and watching the blonde be so brave through this whole thing, Emily really felt like a coward. She still hadn't told her parents about Naomi, she hadn't lied, just hadn't really said anything either. She was scared, after the way they reacted back in Bristol when she tried to delicately hint that she was gay, the idea of telling them about Naomi and everything that this girl was making her feel was terrifying. She just wanted to be happy and enjoy her time with Naomi for a while without having that weight hovering over them, especially when she really didn't know where she stood with Naomi anyways.

Emily was thankful when the sound of a car pulling into the driveway broke her from her worrying thoughts. Pulling back the drapes Emily peeks out and spots Naomi, sitting in her mom's car about to get out and walk to the door. She jumps up and runs to the door herself, wants to stop Naomi before she gets up to the house which could be a potentially awkward experience for all parties involved seeing as her parents still don't know she's been seeing a girl. She's about to open the door when her father comes up behind her.

"Where are you off to?" he says through his thick Scottish accent.

"Just out with Naomi dad, I won't be late," she replies, once again technically not a lie.

"Alright love, have fun," he smiles and pats her on the shoulder.

Emily returns his smile and gives him a quick hug before running out the door towards Naomi. Some how managing to catch her before she got fully out of the car.

"I was going to come to the door you know," Naomi says," A little eager are we?"

"Always," Emily raises and eyebrow, breaking into a grin as she gets in the passenger seat and spots the flowers in Naomi's hand," Are those for me?"

Laughs when she sees Naomi's cheeks flush, really likes that she can get such a response out of her.

"Ya well my mom said its customary on a first date, so I picked some from the garden," Naomi hands the fresh flowers to Emily," Sorry they aren't roses or anything, its just she told me at the last minute and I didn't have time to stop before coming here."

Emily shush's her with a finger to her lips and shakes her head.

"They're lovely Naomi," Emily assures her," Just stop worrying yeah."

"Sorry," Naomi says sheepishly, thinking to herself that it was easier said then done.

"So where are we going?" Emily asks, her curiosity finally getting the best of her

"You'll see soon enough," Naomi grins and Emily thinks that she might have just fallen for Naomi all over again.

They were pulling out of the driveway when Jenna finally speaks up, she's been watching out the window since Emily ran so excitedly outside. There was just something about the way Emily spoke about this Naomi girl, and she just had to see if her suspicions were at all founded.

"Did you just see that Rob, there were flowers Naomi certainly isn't just Emily's friend," Jenna sighs, turning to face her husband and shutting the drapes," What are we going to do?"

"Its just a summer thing sweet heart," he tries to sooth her worries, knows its really no use though," This is Emily we're talking about, at the end of the summer we'll have picked out a wonderful school for her to attend and she'll be gone and will have forgotten all about this Naomi."

"I don't know Rob it makes me nervous," she shakes head.

"We can't push her Jenna, all it will do is make her resent us and will push her more towards this girl. If we just sit back fall semester will start before we know it and things will be fine," Rob explains," Just trust me, Emily always makes the right decision."

Jenna reluctantly agrees, follows her husband out of the room and tries not to think about how this could destroy all the dreams she had for her daughter.

Emily smiles when Naomi pulls up to the beach, she was glad Naomi hadn't opted for the traditional dinner and a movie date because they weren't traditional and she liked it that way.

"So my mom said that a first date should be original, you know something to remember," Naomi says as she shuts off the ignition," And I have a feeling you've never watched the sunset on a beach before?"

"Can't say that I have," Emily admits," But I'm happy my first time will be with you," Naomi's eyes snap up to hers and Emily quickly realizes the possible double meaning to her words," My first beach sunset I mean," she adds, blushing furiously.

"Of course," Naomi agrees," That's what I thought you meant."

Does her best to push the lusty thoughts out of her head because she knows _that _isn't happening tonight. Its all part of Naomi's turning over a new leaf plan, the whole taking it slow thing was new to her but became increasingly important after Emily had admitted shyly that she had never. And for once Naomi actually wants to do the right thing, wants it to mean something if and when her and Emily sleep together. Mostly wants to make sure that if by some act of God Emily chooses her to take that step with her that its nothing at all like the memories she has of her first time.

"Come on then," Naomi says, grabbing Emily's hand and tugging her towards the beach.

She's picked her favorite spot, off the main stretch of beach, a clear view of the water and beautiful fine white sand to sit on. As Emily comes around the bend and sees what Naomi has set up her smile widens. It was nothing extravagant, no candles or rose pedals or anything else overly cheesy. There was just a blanket, a small fire and a picnic basket off to the side. It was quant and exactly how Emily had imagined her first date with Naomi. Naomi was patting the spot next to her and Emily quickly accepted the invitation.

"I know its not like a typical first date," Naomi says suddenly," I just wasn't sure what to plan and I heard Effy say that you don't get as clear a look at the stars back in Bristol so I thought maybe this was a good idea?"

Emily feels her heart warm at Naomi's clear insecurities shining through, places her hand atop Naomi's in a comforting gesture.

"Its lovely," Emily replies," And you aren't typical, I'm not typical and I honestly don't ever want to be normal with you."

And when Naomi laughs its like Emily can see some of the tension leave her body and it's a beautiful sight the way her shoulders sink down and her face breaks out into what Emily thinks really could be a million dollar smile, Emily's pleased that she was able to bring about such a look.

"You basically just called me weird you realize?" Naomi says with mock anger.

"Correction I said we were weird," Emily laughs," But I like it that way."

"Whatever you say Em," Naomi replies," You big freak!" She adds grinning like an idiot when Emily glares playfully at her.

Emily looks around, watches the water lap against the beach with the tide breathes in the fresh ocean scent and thinks that this is Naomi to her. Calm and serenity and beauty, absolute beauty, feels maybe for the first time absolute contentment with where she is.

"So you're sure you like it then?" Naomi says when Emily is silent for a moment," I mean we could still catch a late movie if you'd prefer?"

"For a cocky girl you can be very insecure Naomi," Emily shakes her head, she's starting to learn that maybe Naomi's brash exterior is really just designed to hide the scared girl underneath." There's nowhere I'd rather be right now."

Naomi smiles and leans in pressing a chaste kiss to Emily's lips and then her cheek, pulling back to witness the broad grin Emily was now wearing.

"So were you planning on feeding me? Because be warned I can be a bit of a bitch when hungry," Emily confesses.

"Good to know," Naomi says as she reaches across and picks up the basket.

Starts pulling things out and placing them in front of Emily on the blanket and to say Emily was surprised to see so many of her favorite foods was an understatement. It wasn't till Naomi pulled out the familiar purple package that Emily hadn't seen since she left England that Emily's curiosity got the better of her.

"Garibaldi's?" Emily questions.

"Ya Effy said they were your favorite, never heard of them but I figure if you like them they must be good?" Naomi tosses the basket back to the side and hands Emily a wrapped sandwich.

"Honey and marmite?" Emily gasps as she unwraps the sandwich," Let me guess Effy?"

Naomi nods, unwrapping her own sandwich and taking a bite.

"I wanted to give you a taste of home and Effy helped out, though to be honest that sandwich looks disgusting," Emily takes a large bite and makes various sounds of enjoyment," Well to each their own I guess."

"Where did you get all this stuff? I've looked at the supermarket and let me tell you they're no Tesco!" Emily declares

"There's this British import store at the mall, mostly novelty stuff but they have a small section of food and a shit load of tea," Naomi explains.

Emily melts a little more at Naomi's obvious effort to make this date perfect for her. She thinks that for a girl who claims she's never even been on a date Naomi's pretty damn good at planning one. And so far it was perfect, perfect girl, perfect surroundings, and her favorite foods, without a doubt one of the best nights she could remember.

Its much later on when the sun has already set and Naomi has given Emily her sweater after insisting that she looked cold, that Emily thinks that there's a bit of an imbalance in their relationship. She's sitting between Naomi's legs and leaning back into the warmth of her body as they gaze at the stars and Naomi points out constellations to her. Emily pulls Naomi's arms tighter around her body and sighs when she feels Naomi's chin resting on her shoulder.

"Cold Em?" Naomi asks," We could head back?"

"No," Emily says quickly, the last thing she wants is for this night to end," I'd like to stay a litter longer, I was just thinking about something."

"Go on then," Naomi encourages her to continue, presses a lingering kiss to Emily's neck that causes an involuntary shiver to run down Emily's spine.

"I was just thinking that you know so much about me but I still know very little about you."

Naomi furrows her brow, she hadn't really thought about it like that. It was just how she felt comfortable; asking questions about Emily and learning as much as she could. She didn't realize that in the process she might have unconsciously made it seem like she was closing herself off.

"Well what do you want to know?" Naomi says," Ask me anything."

Emily mulls it over for a bit, there are so many things she wants to know about Naomi. If she's completely honest she wants to know everything about her.

"Favorite color?" Emily finally decides on," What its legitimate!" she defends when Naomi starts to giggle behind her.

"Wow delving deep here aren't we Em," Naomi jokes," And its either green or blue."

"Okay, any siblings?" Emily asks.

"You mean other than my dads new family which I've never met?" It comes out much harsher than she intended and she feels instantly guilty," Nope, no siblings just me and my mom."

Mentally kicking herself for the slip up Emily turns slightly in Naomi's arms, expects to be met with an angry stare but instead finds Naomi simply looking back at her, nothing but a smile but still a hint of sadness present on her face.

"I'm so sorry, I'm such a twat! I shouldn't have said that,"

"Its okay Emily I'm over it, really you don't have to tip toe around the subject all the time," Naomi says, can see how guilty Emily is for bringing it up and now feels even worse for reacting in such a knee jerk fashion.

"Its okay if you're not you know?" Emily says," You don't have to always be the strong one, you can be a bit weak with me because I'll be there to catch you I promise."

It stirs something inside Naomi; she's never been one to count on anyone else. Learned from a young age that the only person you can really count on is yourself. But there's something about the way Emily says those words, something about the look in her eyes that just forces Naomi to believe her no questions asked. And really she just wants to tell Emily that she's already a bit weak with her, wants to tell her how much intensity of what she's feeling is scarring the shit out of her. But she doesn't, she doesn't want to scare Emily away. So she just smiles at her and nods, stroking her hand across Emily's cheek when she moves in for a kiss.

"I should probably get you home then," Naomi says reluctantly," Last thing I need is to make a bad impression on your parents by bringing you home late the first night."

Emily stiffens slightly in her arms and Naomi wracks her brain to come up with what she could have possibly said wrong.

"Or we could stay if you want?"

"Its just…its just," Emily stammers, hopes Naomi wont react badly to what she's about to tell her," I haven't told them about us yet."

Suddenly everything makes sense, the way Emily always meets her places when they hang out, the way she ran outside earlier to keep Naomi from walking to the door. She feels something foreign then, something in the pit of her stomach; hurt. Well at least Emily was consistent in making her feel Naomi thinks.

"Are you mad?" Emily timidly asks.

And no she isn't mad, she wishes that she was. At least anger was an emotion she was used to, she could deal with anger, but this feeling swirling around in her gut right now wasn't pleasant.

"Depends," she says finally, watches as Emily turns around in her arms again, her eyes looking guilty," Is it because im a girl or because I'm me?"

Emily's eyes go completely frantic at this, her hands fly up to cup Naomi's cheeks in some attempt to make sure the blonde is listening.

"Jesus no Naomi you have the complete wrong idea," Emily says quickly, ignores the disbelief in Naomi's eyes," It's nothing to do with you, you're lovely, its just the last time I brought up my gay inclinations they lost it. Well mum did, dad seemed pretty cool but mum just wouldn't let it go. Kept telling me I was confused and that I should be more like Katie. So over the years It just got easier to just let her believe what she wanted to you know."

Emily waits for some sort of reaction from Naomi that will tell her that everything is okay, gets it when Naomi smiles gently at her and places her hands on Emily's forearms, pulling Emily's hands off her face and taking them in her own.

"Its okay," Naomi says," I'm sorry sometimes I forget that not everyone has liberal hippie parents like my mom. Like I know that my reputation doesn't make me the most desirable person to bring home to your parents so I don't mind if you want to just you know keep it on the down low for now."

Emily knows Naomi is just trying to make everything easy on her. But she knows Naomi hasn't hidden who she was for a long time, admires her bravery actually, the way Naomi seems to be able to effortlessly look the world in the face and say "this is me, deal with it". The fact that Naomi is willing to keep things between them under the radar when its so against her nature causes Emily's heart to melt a little.

"That's really sweet of you Naoms but I don't want to lie about us," Emily says with conviction," In fact when I get home tonight I'm just going to come out and tell them that you're my girlfriend and they'll just have to deal with it."

The words just came out of Emily's mouth before she even noticed what she had said. Naomi's eyes widen for a moment as she processes what Emily has just called her. She smiles then, kind of likes the way that word sounds coming from Emily. It's like something in her changed this summer, because months ago that word would have terrified her to no end, would have made her feel trapped. But now it only made her feel warm and happy, and she thinks that maybe Cook was right, this new Naomi was starting to creep her out too.

"Girlfriend?" Naomi says, an amused smirk dancing on her lips.

Emily must have realized what she said because she suddenly she was turning a bright shade of pink and shaking her head awkwardly.

"Shit no, I meant…fucking hell," Emily stammers

"Em?" Naomi says

"Yeah?" Emily replies, her hands placed over her face bracing for the worst.

"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" Emily removes her hands and sneaks a glance at Naomi, who is looking back with a huge grin on her face.

"Fuck Campbell you had me thinking I scared you off." Emily laughs, the panicked feeling slowly dissipating.

"Now who's the insecure one," Naomi teased," So how about it? I've never actually had a girlfriend before, would you like to be my first?" Naomi kinks her eyebrow suggestively and Emily feels her stomach drop.

"I would love to," Emily says and if possible Naomi's grin grows," Now kiss me you fool."

Naomi doesn't need to be told twice, she snakes her arm around Emily's neck and pulls hr into a kiss. Deepens it instantly as she pulls Emily down so she's laying half on top of her, one of Naomi's hand burying its way into red hair and the other one sliding down and resting on Emily's lower back keeping them pressed together. And for someone who's as inexperienced as Emily says she is, she's remarkably good at this. The way she arches her back slightly unknowingly pushing herself further into Naomi, and it's surprising to Naomi how the most innocent of movements from Emily can turn her on so much. She knows she has to stop it, because Emily's lips are slowly drifting down her jaw and too her neck and she feels like her skin is on fire and her stomach is fluttering and if she doesn't stop this now she doesn't think she'll have the will power to later.

"Ems," Naomi says, tries and fails to hide the shudder she breaks out in when Emily sucks a little harder on her pulse point.

"Emily," she tries again, sounding a little more forceful this time.

Emily pulls back and looks at her, takes in Naomi's slightly heavier breathing and the way her eyes are the darkest she's ever seen anyone's. She gulps, realizes exactly what effect she was having on the blonde. It stirs something in her, knowing she has the power to make Naomi feel like that, she smiles at the realization and leans in and kisses Naomi softly this time.

"We've got tones of time for this," Naomi says when they finally break apart," No need to rush anything okay?"

"Fucking hell you're damn near perfect aren't you?" Emily blurts out blushing when she realizes she actually said what she was thinking out loud.

"Well I try," Naomi grins," But we really should get you home it's getting late."

Emily looks at her watch, its well after midnight and she knows Naomi is right, if she doesn't get home soon she knows there will be hell to pay from her parents later but she selfishly just doesn't want this night to end.

"Ya you're right," Emily concedes," Just sad it has to end is all."

"Well I'll see you tomorrow right," Naomi laughs," you're my girlfriend now you're kind of stuck with me Ems."

"Well when you put it like that I'm not so sure," Emily teases.

"Fuck off," Naomi replies, stands up offering a hand to Emily to help her up.

She puts out the fire and gathers up the rest of the things she had set out and tosses everything in the trunk of the car. The drive back to Emily's is short and Emily gives her another kiss in the car before she takes off inside wearing the biggest smile Naomi had ever seen her wear. It's something close to pride what Naomi feels, she's happy Emily enjoyed her evening. That was all she wanted really, to give Emily a night that she would remember, one that she could look back on one day and smile at the memory and it seemed like she had exceeded.

Emily waves at Naomi once as she pulls out of the driveway before heading inside and leaning against the door with a huge grin after she shuts it. She feels like she's floating, it's a feeling that she can't even describe like there are no words that fit it.

"Did you have a good time love?" her dad's thick accent cuts through her thoughts, she snaps her head to the side and spots him and her mum sitting in the lounge staring at her.

She swallows thickly, thinks to herself that its now or never as she walks towards them.

"Yeah I did," she says," there's something I have to tell you and you're not going to like it."

Emily takes another deep breath and mentally prepares herself for the backlash she knows is going to follow what she says next.

"Naomi is more than just my friend, she's my girlfriend," it feels good to finally say it out loud and the knowledge that Naomi really is hers gives her the strength to continue," She's rather beautiful, and smart and wonderful and to be blunt you're just going to have to get used to it. Because mum dad I love you but I can't keep on hiding who I am so you can live in this fantasy world, it hurts too much and I just can't do it anymore."

It all comes out in one quick succession and she doesn't even take the time to look at them to see their reaction, just squeezes her eyes tight when she's finished and prays for the best. But they don't speak and after a few minutes of silence Emily finally opens her eyes and looks at them and she's surprised to find her father smiling at her. Looks over to her mum and sees a similar smile on her face as well, though it seems forced and tense.

"Emsy we just want you to be who you are love," her father says," Right Jenna?"

Jenna smiles and nods but the way her hands clench slightly at her sides doesn't go unnoticed by Emily.

"Of course dear," Jenna says, her voice tight," we just want you to be happy."

Emily wonders if when she was out some aliens attacked the house and possessed her parents because this was the last reaction she was expecting from them. But decides to take it anyways, doesn't quite buy that they are this okay with everything but figures if they are making an attempt then she will too. So she says good night and kisses them both on the cheek before making her way up the stairs to her room, she can hear their voices as she shuts her door but can't make out what they're saying. Frankly she doesn't care right now, just wants to enjoy the moment for a while.

Effy is sitting on her bed waiting for her with a smirk when she enters the room and Emily can't help but grin back at her. Its ridiculous really, her face is sore from smiling so much but she just can't stop, its how Naomi makes her feel, just so ridiculously happy it's a little bit sick.

"So tell me all about it," Effy says," Was she lovely?"

_you have no idea_ Emily thinks as she throws herself down on the bed and begins to recount one of the best nights of her life to her best friend in the world. She thinks that if this is as good as it gets for her that right now it would be enough


	5. Crazier

**A/N** Another chapter here for you, sorry it took so long I was on vacation for two weeks and was pretty much in the middle of nowhere without any internet to speak of so updating was out of the question. But i'm home now so I figured i'd upload this before bed, mainly fluff again but some drama too, its late and I haven't slept in about two days so excuse any errors as I literally don't have the energy in me to proofread this again. Thank you for all the reviews on the last one, seriously it melts my icy little heart every time I look and see that some one has reviewed so please continue :)

**Crazier**

The days fly by so quickly that Naomi finds herself not wanting to fall asleep at night, it feels like she's wasting time, precious time that could be spent with Emily. They don't talk about it but they both know that as the summer inches closer to a close Emily inches closer to leaving and Naomi just wants to live in the moment for a little while.

Its like Emily is some mystical creature, like a dragon or a unicorn. Or maybe just a super hero with the power to make Naomi do whatever she wants. Naomi couldn't resist Emily, couldn't say no to her, which at times proved dangerous like when Emily convinced Naomi to teach her to drive a standard.

"Fucks sake Emily press down on the clutch and shift quickly, you're grinding the shit out of the gears," Naomi grunts, doesn't understand how someone as brilliant as Emily couldn't pick this up.

"Don't fucking yell at me Naomi, its hard!" Emily whines, now completely regretting asking Naomi to help her because as she now realizes Naomi is an awful teacher.

"Look babe, I'm sorry okay," Naomi takes a deep breath," You're doing great, just try and be a little smoother on your transitions."

Emily decides to give it one more shot, puts some gas and swiftly switches gears for the first time without bucking or stalling the vehicle. And Naomi's face is priceless, a mixture of disbelief and pride is glowing off of her.

"You did it Ems!" Naomi exclaims.

Emily reaches across and grabs Naomi by the collar into a kiss, thinks they both deserve a reward for surviving each other during the lesson.

The next time Emily goes out wit her father she asks if she can drive. He looks a little skeptical at first but after a few mnutes he looks at her completely surprised. And when she tells him it was Naomi who taught her he looks a little impressed, she thinks that maybe he is actually on his way to accepting Naomi.

* * *

It takes a bit of begging but Naomi finally convinces Emily to come in the water with her. She's very tentative at first, walks in up to her knee's and freezes, looks at Naomi helplessly.

"Naoms I'm sorry I don't think I can," Emily says, her voice unsteady.

"Come on Ems I followed all your stipulations, I brought you to a deserted beach, the water is shallow and I even wore the requested swim wear," Naomi jokes, remembering fondly the conversation her and Emily had earlier where the red head had agreed to try only if Naomi wore the purple bikini she loved her in.

When Emily still doesn't budge Naomi decides to take things into her own hands. Wades over to Emily and slips behind her, wraps her arms tightly around Emily's waist so she's pushed up flush at her back. Places small kisses on Emily's shoulder and neck until she feels Emily relax into her arms, she kisses her way up to Emily's ear and hovers her lips over it.

"You don't have to be scared Emily," Naomi whispers, her fingers drawing random patterns on Emily's stomach, she feels Emily's muscles tense giving away how much the teasing touch was effecting her," I won't let anything happen to you, I just want to help you face a fear the same way you've helped me face so many."

Turns her attention beack to Emily's neck, runs her lips along the length of it while circling Emily's belly button, playing lightly with the piercing there. Emily lets out a shaky breath before reaching her arm back and tangling it in blonde hair, tugging lightly forcing Naomi's lips onto hers. But before she knows it Naomi is gone, the warmth surrounding her is wrenched away and she's left feeling hot and bothered.

"Naomi fucking," Emily stutters," Get back here!"

Naomi is about 10 feet away now, water up to her elbows. She smirks and shakes her head, extends her arms out to Emily.

"If you want more of that you have to come to me," Naomi says.

"I can't,"

"Yes you can, just trust me," Naomi says," Just close your eyes and come to me."

Emily sighs, looks once more pleadingly at Naomi but she's still just standing there with her hand extended expectantly. And if Emily wasn't so crazy about her she would hate Naomi right now, but for fucks sake she's standing there all wet and hot in a very skimpy bathing suit and Emily just can't resist any longer. She scrunches her eyes closed and takes a tentative step forward, and then another, and her nails are digging painfully into her palms because she's so terrified. But she keeps moving until she feels Naomi's hands on her shoulders, pulling her into an embrace. Opens her eyes to see Naomi's comforting smile being cast back towards her. The water is just about up to her shoulders but its not as bad as she expected, especially not when Naomi's hands are resting on her lower back and pressing them closer together so their legs are intertwined.

"See its not so bad now is it?" Naomi says with a teasing smirk.

"Maybe not but someone promised me a little more of before if I came out here, so here I am where's my reward?"

Naomi's laugh is interrupted by Emily forcing their lips together, kissing her until their both breathless and panting. And Naomi feels light headed, doesn't know how Emily managed it but she's somehow turned her own game around on her.

Naomi shows Emily how to float, she hates to admit but its actually kind of nice, especially with Naomi circling her and drawing her in closer now and then and kissing her.

When Naomi drops her off that night Emily feels a bit bold, decides she wants some pay back for Naomi's earlier teasing. By the time Naomi has put the car in park Emily's lips are already in hers, pushing her further back into the seat as she climbs over the console and straddles Naomi's lap. Naomi goes a bit wild then, her hands smoothing down and gripping on Emily's bottom grinding them together and Emily has to bite back a groan at the contact. But Naomi doesn't stop and the friction she's creating is intoxicating and Emily realizes it was foolish to think she could beat Naomi at her own game. But when her lips drift down to Naomi's neck finding the sensitive spot she knows exists Emily knows she has Naomi, slowly inches her hands up under Naomi's shirt raking her nails up and down Naomi's sides. Naomi's hands are digging in roughly on Emily's lower back now and her head is tipped back, her breathing heavy. Emily takes this chance to dislodge herself from Naomi's lap, smirking at the state she's worked the blonde into.

"Emily what the," Naomi says, her eyes narrowing as Emily smiles innocently and slips out of the car.

"Good night Naoms," Emily says

"You're such a tease!" Naomi shouts at her.

"You love it!" Emily shouts back.

She blows a teasing kiss at the car before Naomi scowls playfully at her and drives away. turning back towards the door she just about runs inside, a big smile on her face.

"Good night?" Emily hears causing her to snap her head around in the direction of the voice.

Her father is sitting on the porch swing eyeing her curiously. And her heart is beating so fast for a completely different reason then it was only a minute ago. It feels like its lodged in her throat because frankly he scared the shit out of her.

"Dad," Emily gasps, her hand resting on her chest feeling her rapid heart beat," I didn't see you there."

He simply smiles warmly and shrugs.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he chuckles," Things are getting serious with this Naomi I take it?"

Emily frowns, wondering how he came to that conclusion because despite her parents insistence that they are fine with everything she still feels odd talking to them about it. But then it hits her, he's been sitting there for a while, which means he had pretty much a front row view of her little teasing session with Naomi minutes ago. Her eyebrows shoot up and it feels like her skin is crawling, her father had seen her nearly fucking Naomi in the front seat, she couldn't think of anything else more mortifying at the moment.

"Ya I suppose," Emily answers so low that its almost a whisper.

"Well I thinks it's time we meet her, invite her over for dinner soon yeah?" he pushes.

Emily has to dig her nails into her palms to keep the fake smile on her face, because really inviting Naomi over for dinner so her family could scrutinize her doesn't sound like her ideal way to spend an evening.

"Sure I'll ask her tomorrow," Emily say.

"How does Saturday sound? Elisabeth will be out with James so we can have a nice family meal." he suggests.

"Sounds lovely," Emily grits her teeth, knows that Naomi would be less than impressed that they would be spending their Saturday evening with the Fitches," Night dad."

Emily forces one last smile before continuing inside, making a mad dash to her bedroom. She knows she could call Naomi now and drop the bomb but they had such a lovely day and she doesn't want to soil it. Most girls would be thrilled that their parents want to meet the person they're dating but she just feels like its bound to be a disaster even though her parents have been acting eerily fine with it. Maybe that's what's throwing her off, because a few years of them forcing her to hide who she was and now all of a sudden its all rainbows and ponies something just doesn't add up and she doesn't want Naomi to be dragged through the mud. So she crawls in bed and just as she's about to fall asleep she feels her phone go off and flips it open to reveal a message from Naomi.

_Just know I will get payback for earlier, though something tells me you'll enjoy it ;) Sweet dreams Em xxxN_

It feels like her heart is turning over in her chest, like Naomi could just sense from across town that something just wasn't right with her and decided to send a message to cheer her up. And it did its job because now Emily couldn't stop smiling, and that's when she knew. The fact that a few simply words on a screen could make her feel like this just proved it, she was totally incredibly in love with Naomi Campbell and there was nothing she could do about it. The realization doesn't shake her like she thought it would, truth was she had known for a while, it was like Naomi had a halo in her eyes, the blonde was perfect and could do no wrong. Even when they were fighting or she was being stubborn Emily still some how found it cute and that's what she thinks love is, its when Naomi's being a royal pain in the arse and Emily still can't help but get that fluttery feeling in her stomach from just being near her. Its about two hearts intertwined for better or worse not matter what challenges they might face.

Emily suddenly has the overwhelming urge to call Naomi and tell her, to put those three words out there for everyone to hear but she decides against it after a couple of minutes with her fingers hovering over the buttons of Naomi's phone number. She doesn't want to spook Naomi because she's been doing to well with everything but a love declaration out of nowhere might be the thing that causes her to break and run. Or even worse Emily thinks about the possibility that Naomi might not say it back, which could possibly be the most devastating scenario that Emily can think of at the moment. The thought of it alone is enough for Emily to just send Naomi a quick reply to her text and go to sleep, following Naomi's advice and having sweet dreams filled with blonde and blue and the ocean.

Naomi wakes the next morning to her door slamming shut and Cook grinning at her. She sits up, completely forgetting in her half asleep state that she sleeps naked and is unknowingly giving Cook a free show.

"Cook stop oogling, Naomi pull the duvet up unless you're wanting us to have a clear view of your tits," Effy's voice floats through the room as she glides in smirking at Naomi," Emily's really not the foursome type."

Naomi snatches the covers and pulls them up to her neck, finally awake now and wide awake at that,

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Naomi asks," And have you ever heard of knocking."

"We're supposed to be going to lunch with you and Emily," Cook says," And have you ever heard of wearing clothes to bed?"

"Fuck," Naomi thinks, she had completely forgotten about the little lunch double date she had agreed to last week. She was sure that she had set an alarm the night before but obviously not.

"I forgot," Naomi sighs, flopping back down onto her back again.

"Forgot what?" Emily's voice now fills the room," Naoms why aren't you up?"

"She forgot," Effy and Cook say in unison causing Naomi to let out a groan and look apologetically at Emily.

"Well at least she gave us a free show," Cook adds," Makes up for making us wait for her."

"Free show?" Emily asks

Effy smirks again, places an arm around Emily's shoulders.

"Yeah Naomi had her tits out when we walked in," Effy laughs at the surprised look on Emily's face," And Em I must say they were mint, hold on to that one yeah."

And with that Effy grabs Cook by the arm and pulls him out of the room muttering something about "having a shower and hurrying the fuck up"

"So why is it exactly that you're showing your tits to my best friend and Cook?" Emily says teasingly, walks over and crawls on the bed laying next to Naomi on top of the duvet.

"I was sleeping and they barged in and scared the shit out of me," Naomi defends," And I sleep naked so sue me!"

Emily can't help but giggle, though she really was a bit jealous of Naomi's sheets now. It was hardly fair that they got to spend every night wrapped around a naked Naomi.

"Well that's brave of you with all the people that live in your house," Emily points out," Though it really isn't fair that Cook and Effy have seen them and I haven't."

Naomi has no come back for that one, sometimes the things that Emily says just leaves her speechless.

"Well Cook has already seen them so no big deal there, and its not like I would have stopped you if you tried to undress me," Naomi says, cocks her eyebrow.

"So its my fault?" Emily challenges.

"Fuck no I didn't mean it like that." Naomi sighs, thinks its far to early to be having this conversation," I'm just trying to do things right with you Emily."

Emily breaks out into a grin; she thinks Naomi might just be the cutest person on the planet. And she knows Naomi has been making an effort to take things slow which from what she understands has been against her nature in the past, and it just makes her love Naomi all the more.

"I know Naomi," Emily kisses her softly," And you've been really sweet because I know it must be hard for you," Emily presses a kiss to Naomi's cheek," But know that it's just as hard for me because honestly I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

Naomi wracks her brain, tries to think of another time when someone had called her beautiful but comes up blank. She still hasn't figured out how Emily always seems to effortlessly be able to make her swoon.

"You turn the most adorable shade of pink when you're embarrassed," Emily says through a laugh.

"Fuck off," Naomi says, buries her face in her pillow until she's sure any trace of a blush has left her features.

"Okay Naoms you really need to get up and shower because Effy and Cook aren't the most patient people on the planet." Emily says, she doesn't move though, just looks at Naomi expectantly.

"Well are you going to leave me to it then?" Naomi asks

"I think I'd rather wait here than go downstairs and have another conversation with "the messiah" about the last three girls you'd brought back here," Emily says simply.

Naomi furrows her brow, makes a mental note to give him a good talking to when she gets home later.

"Well can you like close your eyes or turn around or something," Naomi says, covers still pulled up tightly around her neck.

She's not sure what it is but the thought of Emily seeing her naked right now is making her head spin. The thought of being completely stripped and vulnerable in front of her was making Naomi's hands sweat and shake and quite honestly she didn't think she was ready for it right now.

"You let Effy and Cook see," Emily jokes," Never took you as self conscious Naomi."

"Please," Naomi says in that pleading tone of voice that Emily wouldn't have been able to say no to even if she had wanted to," I just don't want the first time you see me like…you know…to be like _this_, actually I'd rather erase pretty much this entire morning from my memory if you don't mind. Plus it wouldn't be fair because you're still fully clothed," Naomi adds feeling some of her confidence return.

And Emily just wants to tell her that she can already see her, she can see the real Naomi and she doesn't have to see her body to know that she's beautiful because it just oozes out of her. Not that she didn't want to see Naomi's body because the more she thinks about it the more she thinks she's ready to take that next step and really Naomi's had enough experience that she's pretty sure she'll make sure that Emily's first time is amazing.

"Okay fine," Emily concedes, clamps her hands over her eyes and tries not to smile when she hears Naomi let out a sigh of relief.

She feels a dip in the bed and hears Naomi's footsteps padding softly across the room, and she tries to be good and not look but the temptation is far to strong so she separates her fingers a bit just to get a quick peek. But Naomi is standing there, leaning against the bathroom door now wearing an over sized tee shirt that came to rest just below her bottom.

"I knew you would perve," she laughs.

"You think you know me?" Emily asks amused, her eyes still trained on Naomi's long legs which were almost completely on show.

"I do," Naomi insists," Now I'm going to shower and I'm locking the door so don't get any ideas!"

"Oi!" Emily exclaims but Naomi's figure has already disappeared behind the door.

She almost wants to go over there and see if the door is really locked, but she's not sure what she would do if it was open. She decides its safer to just stay where she is, besides its not so bad. Its like she wrapped up in Naomi's scent, its quite lovely actually.

"Just so you know," Naomi says, her head poking out a small crack in the door, her bare shoulder on show making Emily's imagination go wild," It may be hard but just know I'd wait forever for you if I had to."

Before Emily can respond Naomi has slipped back into the bathroom and out of sight again. Not that she could have formulated a coherent sentence at the moment anyways, because her head was spinning and she just felt so fucking giddy it was ridiculous.

About a half hour later Naomi emerges from the bathroom fully clothed, well if you could consider the short shorts and tank top she was wear to be fully clothed. Her hair has dried on its own by the looks of it because its slightly wavy, and Emily just wants to run her hands through it and bury her face in Naomi's neck to inhale the scent she knows all to well. But she figures they've kept Cook and Effy waiting long enough so when Naomi offers her hand Emily takes it and follows her down the stairs.

"About fucking time," Cook groans as Naomi and Emily emerge into the kitchen," Im fucking starving."

Naomi walks over to the cupboard and pulls out a packet of crackers, tosses them straight at Cook.

"There satisfied?" Naomi says as she wraps her arms around Emily from behind, feeling content when Emily intertwines their fingers and snuggles back further into her.

"Maybe show me a little lezzar action and I might be," Cook wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, wincing when Effy slaps him upside the head," Fine lets just go then."

A while later they were sitting in a booth at the diner on the pier, food already in front of them. Cook is munching on his fries while telling stories about a younger Naomi, mostly from when they were dating, most of them memories that Naomi wished would have stayed buried.

"Then she pulled me out from between her legs and told me to just put it in already because it just wasn't working," Cook bellows," I should have known then, watch out Emily she's a forceful bitch when she's frustrated."

And Emily is fucking laughing like its the funniest thing she's ever heard, even Effy is uncharacteristically laughing openly and Naomi's just a tad irritated now. Emily must sense it because she blindly finds Naomi's hand under the table and squeezes it.

"Good to know," Emily smirks as she moves her hand to Naomi's bare thigh, slides it upward slowly stopping just short of Naomi's shorts.

And Naomi's tense and looking at Emily with eye's that say "don't you dare do this here". It makes Emily draw circles on the soft skin until she feels Naomi's fingers grab her wrist urgently, tugging on it until Emily relents and settles on holding her hand instead.

"Alright Naomi?" Effy asks and Naomi's eyes snap up to hers.

"Ya fine thanks," Naomi says, allowing her face to relax again though judging by Effy's knowing smirk she's already figured it out.

Naomi makes a mental not to ask Emily later when it was that she became so fond of teasing her in public.

"Well I think we've embarrassed poor Naomi enough wouldn't you say Cook," Effy says," How about some Emily stories?"

"That sounds lovely," Naomi replies, smirking at Emily who looks a lot less smug now.

"How about we tell Naomi about JJ?" Emily shakes her head violently only making Naomi more curious.

"JJ? Well Ems you know almost my entire dating history, its only fair I know some of yours," Naomi trains her eyes on Emily curiously.

"Its not my fault that your dating past is like folk lore around here," Emily replies.

"Too fucking right red," Cook grins, stopping instantly at Naomi's glare.

"So JJ?" Naomi continues.

"He's a sweet boy really, curly brown hair, braces, he gets locked on when excited. Probably the smartest boy in our form," Effy starts," But he had the unfortunate turn of falling for our Ems here."

Naomi smiles fondly at her, understands completely how it is to fall so hard and quick for Emily Fitch.

"He used to follow her around like a lost puppy it was adorable, irritated the fuck out of Emily though. Well skipping over the boring details Emily started feeling guilty and decided to befriend him, one day he started getting locked on Emily tried everything to get him to calm down but do you wanna know the one thing that worked?" Effy asks, ignoring the glare she was receiving from Emily," She showed him her tits, right there in the middle of the green where they were sitting and holy fuck was it a genius idea because he stopped rambling instantly. Needless to say is obsession with her only grew after that little encounter, one day after school in the hall Emily finally decided that she had enough. She looked him in the eye and said "I like girls, I like sex with girls, I like tits and fanny!", Poor guy passed out cold, we had to carry him to the nurse. Emily's face was almost the color of her hair when she tried to explain to the nurse why JJ fainted, it was fucking priceless."

Naomi tries not to laugh, she knows it will only irritate Emily but she just can't help but let out a giggle or two. The picture in her head of Emily shouting to the world that she likes "tits and fanny" was just to much, the added benefit of a fainting not so secret admirer just put it over the top.

"You're such a heartbreaker Emily!" Naomi teases

"Well you guys have that in common," Cook speaks up.

Emily laughs at this and shoots an innocent smile Naomi's way when she looks at her incredulously.

Its all so ridiculously domestic, the restaurant double date, telling stories about each others pasts, what's next her mom bringing out naked baby pictures when Emily finally meets her? But Naomi thinks that there's really no where she would rather be right now, sitting here with her best friend and her girlfriend sharing laughs, she's not sure how it could get better then this.

* * *

"I have something to ask you," Emily says a while later when Naomi is driving her home to change before the bonfire.

"Okay, shoot," Naomi grins, takes a hold of Emilys hand with her free one.

"Well my father's kind of been asking about you lately," Emily explains, Naomi looks at her curiously," He says we're you know getting serious,"

Emily stops then, waits for some notion from Naomi agreeing that they were in fact serious.

"We are," Naomi assures her, placing her free hand on Emily's knee as a comforting gesture," You know that don't you?"

"Of course," Emily breathes a sigh of relief," He...well he said that, he said you should come over for dinner on Saturday so they can meet you."

Naomi's eyes widen as she turns to look at the red head. That definitely wasn't what she was expecting when Emily said she had something to ask her. She hadn't even been so much as invited inside the door of the Fitch's not alone asked over for dinner. She really wasn't good with parents, it was like they could always tell she was up to no good no matter how hard she tried. But it was different with Emily, everything was different with her. And Naomi knew that if she was going to have a perminant place in Emily's life meeting the parents was a natural step.

She's already putting the car in park in Emily's driveway when she finally speaks. Looks at Emily with a big smile and takes her hand.

"I'd love to," Naomi says simply.

But she doesn't get the reaction from Emily that she had been expecting. Naomi thought Emily would be relieved or happy at least but she looks more anxious than anything, its almost as if she was hoping Naomi would say no.

"Are you sure? I mean Naomi you don't have to its really not a big deal," Emily tries.

"If it wasn't a big deal you wouldn't have asked, and I want to go. I want to meet your family, I want them to know how crazy I am about you," Naomi explains

Emily shakes her head, she knows Naomi has no idea what she is getting herself into when it comes to her family. They could be lovely and completely loving at times but closed minded and judging at others, and if she was honest she was scared of what their reaction to her relationship would be.

"You know what forget I asked, its just going to be some over the top stuffy dinner that you're going to hate anyways," Emily tries to make things light.

Naomi narrows her eyes at her girlfriend, sees the almost pleading look in her eyes, almost begging her to just agree and let it go but Naomi just can't.

"It seems like you're the one who doesn't want me to go," Naomi accuses," I mean I know I'm not girlfriend of the year material or anything but I at least thought my effort would count for something."

And Emily's pretty sure her heart is breaking just watching and listening to Naomi saying that she doesn't think Emily believes she's good enough to meet her parents.

"Naomi..." Emily starts, wants desperately to rewind the last couple minutes and put the smile back on Naomi's face. Wants to tell her that there's no one in the world she would rather introduce to her parents, but she doesn't get the chance.

"Look Emily it's fine, I get it okay," Naomi cuts her off," I think maybe you should go, I don't really feel like going to the bonfire, I'm sure Effy can give you a ride."

Emily stares at her helplessly but Naomi keeps her eye's trained forward, her hands still gripping the wheel tightly as she refuses to meet Emily's pleading gaze. So Emily slips out of the car slowly, secretly hoping that Naomi will grab her by the hand and spin her back around and tell her that everything is fine, but she doesn't. And Emily's is left feeling cold as she stands outside her front door and watches Naomi drive away, can't help but think this is the first time Naomi has ever dropped her off without kissing her before leaving. It makes the tears that were brimming her eyes finally flow over as she climbs the stairs and shut her bedroom door behind her. She stares at the blank canvas on her easel and feels the uncontrollable desire to paint. Smears dark and sombre colors across the canvas until she's stopped crying and realizes that she herself is covered in paint as well.

It was Naomi who had gotten her the paint again, ever since their conversation that night on Naomi's boat Emily had finally had the passion to paint again. So she takes her newest one and places it in the corner next to all of the others she had finished this summer, the new one standing out starkly with its dark colors to the others which were alive and vibrant with blue's and greens and yellows. She hops in the shower quickly to clean the paint traces off herself and quickly dries herself off throwing on whatever clothes are the closest when she gets out. Her mission when she leaves the house, a wrapped canvas tucked under her arm and her feet carrying her as fast as they can, is to find Naomi and fix things because this time she knows for sure its her that has messed up.


	6. Debate Exposes Doubt

**A.N Woo finally got my internet fixed so I could upload this chapter. I was going to put the Fitch family dinner in here but I decided to make it next chapter because this one was already long enough. So here you go, thank you for all the nice words on the last one I really appreciate it, and i've got some time off coming up so hopefully it wont be so long till I have the next one up. Hope you enjoy :)**

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Emily had never made it to Naomi's so fast, especially not on foot. She puts it down to desperation; the desperate need to see the blonde had seemingly caused her legs to move at an inhuman rate. Once she reached Naomi's she made a beeline for the door and was about to knock when she felt someone else's presence outside. Bracing herself for what could be facing her (she had never met as many strange people as she had at Naomi's place this summer) she turns and spots a woman sitting on the swinging bench at the end of the porch. She doesn't recognize her though, Emily figures she must be new to the commune and doesn't think anything of it until she hears the woman speak.

"You must be Emily?" A soft voice says," Naomi talks about you all the time."

Emily takes a couple steps closer and as soon as she's close enough to see the woman in the light Emily knows instantly who she is. A pair of familiar blue eyes are staring back at her, soft facial features and a bob of blonde hair rests around her face, it was no doubt Naomi's mother.

"Wow she really didn't do you justice," Naomi's mom says, a smile twitching at the corners of her lips.

Emily feels her face flush, feels her insides fluttering at the thought that Naomi had told her mother so much about her; about them.

"Hello Ms. Campbell," Emily says, staring in wonder at how alike her and Naomi look, she can't help but wonder if this is what Naomi will look like in 20 years.

"Please call me Gina," Gina says, looking at Emily fondly," Come sit down; I'd love to meet the girl that has made my daughter so happy. I mean really how did you do it? How did you make her stop all her shit and settle down, its amazing to me."

Emily can't help but smile at how well Gina knows her daughter. But she honestly has no clue how to answer the question because she really didn't do anything, Naomi had changed all on her own and as it seemed Emily was just there to reap the benefits of her transformation. She takes a seat next to Gina on the swing, still gripping her painting on her lap.

"I honestly didn't do anything Ms Campbell, I mean Gina. I just showed up at that carnival and she was there and she pursued me, almost annoyingly," Emily laughs," But as soon as I gave her a chance I saw how wonderful she actually was, I don't think she changed, not really. I think this Naomi was in there all along just waiting to come out."

"So it was love at first sight then?" Gina says warmly.

"Well I can't speak for Naomi but for me I just felt like I was drawn to her, and I couldn't get her out of my head no matter how hard I tried or how much I hated it," Emily replies.

"She loves you Emily," Gina says strongly.

Emily can't help the shock that spreads across her face at Gina's words, her heart is pounding at the thought that maybe Naomi had told her mother something along those lines.

"Don't look so surprised," Gina laughs," I'm sure she's never told you, stubborn bitch she is, terrified of her feelings. But I've never seen her eyes light up the way they do when she talks about you, she loves you even if she hasn't figured it out herself yet."

"I love her," Emily blurts out, it feels good to finally say it aloud to someone other than herself.

Gina smiles and nods as if to say she already knew and Emily wonders why it is that it's so easy to open up to this woman that she barely knows when she can't even open up completely to her own parents.

"I know you do sweetheart, now why don't you go upstairs and fix whatever little tiff it is the both of you have had because Naomi got home an hour ago wearing that look she wears when she's trying to pretend that nothing is wrong but something obviously is. She was wearing that same one the day that she went to visit her father up the coast and he turned her away, she came home and went straight to her room refusing to talk about it. Likes to stew in her misery that one, but don't let her Emily she deserves to be happy after everything."

Emily was beginning to realize that Naomi really was more fragile than she let on; she carries around this feeling of not being good enough stemming from her father leaving which was completely understandable. Emily figures Naomi had rebelled in the past to avoid letting some one in, to avoid what in Naomi's mind was inevitable, that if she let someone in they would eventually abandon her like her father did. _Christ_ Emily thinks, she couldn't imagine carrying around that load in her head all the time. But Naomi had screwed up, she had let Emily in, she had taken a leap of faith, and Emily knew that with the way she had acted in their conversation earlier that she had made Naomi feel the way she was scared to feel again, the way she had worked so hard in the past to avoid.

Emily was about to reply to Gina, to tell her that she was going to march inside and upstairs and set things right when the front door swung open and a frantic looking Naomi came barging out, completely ignoring Emily and Gina as she set forward down the steps.

"Naomi dear, someone is here to see you," Gina spoke up causing Naomi to stop in her tracks and turn to face the two women on her porch.

Her eyes widen upon the realization that Emily was sitting there with her mother, having a lovely conversation judging by their body language. Naomi was filled with a mixture of relief and irritation, firstly relief because Emily was there as she was on her way to Emily's to apologize anyways. She had decided somewhere in her anger earlier that it was fine that Emily didn't want to introduce her to her parents, she had Emily that's the main thing, and maybe Emily just wasn't ready yet? It took a minute but she was able to force down the doubts, the fiery dragon from within that was screaming at her that Emily was ashamed of her, that she would never deserve someone like Emily. But now she was irritated, after everything here was Emily sitting with her mother alone having a fucking chat when she had told Naomi that she didn't want her to meet the Fitches, it was hardly fair.

Naomi didn't budge, just stood on the top of the steps staring at Emily.

"Well I'll leave you two alone then," Gina says, she stands up and with one last smile at Emily heads inside the house.

"Naomi," Emily says softly, motioning for the blonde to come sit next to her.

"No," Naomi says sternly," How it is right that I'm not allowed to meet your folks but you feel free to come over here and get all chummy with my mom when I'm not even present? Oh wait, yes its because I'm a massive screw up who whores herself around town and you're fucking perfect, how could I forget the differences."

Emily shakes her head; forcing back tears at hearing Naomi speak about herself that way.

"She was out here when I got here, she called me over," Emily explained," And you are NOT a screw up, you're one of the smartest people I know. You're fucking wonderful Naomi, you're funny as hell and you're so fucking gorgeous it seriously takes my breath away. You can do whatever you want in life, you could be anything, and you inspire me did you know that? You're so free and open, you don't give a fuck what people think, and I wish I was more like you."

Naomi's face softens considerably after Emily's speech, she goes to speak but Emily shakes her head and continues.

"And I know you have trust issues, with everything that's happened to you in your life it's a wonder that trust issues is all you have. But Naomi you don't have to be that way with me, I'm not you're father I'm not going to leave when things get rough," Emily assures her," And about earlier, I shouldn't have reacted that way and believe me it had nothing to do with you it's just you don't know my family. I felt like bringing you to dinner would be like tossing you into the lion's den but if you want to I would love for you to meet them. You make me so happy Naomi, like cloud nine floating around the house happy and I know that I need you to forgive me because even though its only been a little over a month I honestly can't picture my life without you in it. You make me smile and you make me feel special like no one before you ever has. You make me want to tell my parents that I want to study art next year instead of law or medicine or whatever other shit they are expecting me to. And ever since I met you I can't stop painting, its like my passion has been reawakened and I have you to thank for that. So believe me if there's anyone in this relationship who doesn't deserve the other its me."

By the time Emily's finished she's full on crying and its taken all Naomi had to not run over and comfort her during the speech, but Emily seemed like she needed to get it all out. And despite all the rambling Naomi knows no one's every said anything remotely as sweet to her in her whole life, and it's managed to melt away all her anger in a second. But really just seeing Emily's face did that about 15 minutes ago. And now Emily was staring at her, tears flowing and eyes pleading, and Naomi can't help but walk over to her. She wraps one arm around Emily's waist and threads the other one through her hair and brings their lips together. She feels Emily sigh against her and feels Emily's hand creep up her back clinging to her sweater desperately until Naomi pulls back and presses her forehead against Emily's.

"Its okay," Naomi says softly," I hate seeing you cry Em." She brings her hands up to brush away the stray tears off of Emily's cheeks.

"So you aren't upset anymore?" Emily asks seriously, sniffing back any lingering tears," Because if you are I need you to tell me, please don't hold it in."

"Emily where did you think I was going in a hurry a minute ago?" Naomi says with a smile," I was heading to your place to apologize to you. It's not physically possible for me to stay angry with you; I care about you too much. And I'm sorry about the way I acted earlier, if you aren't ready for me to meet your parents that's completely fine."

Emily's smiles, feels a giant weight being lifted off of her shoulders at Naomi's words. But the more she thinks about it the more she realizes that she really does want Naomi to meet her family. All she wants is for them to take her relationship seriously and she knows that hiding Naomi away isn't going to accomplish anything of the sort.

"You're so lovely," Emily giggles, pressing her face into the crook of Naomi's neck and feeling the vibration of Naomi's laugh against her face," But I really would love it if you would come over on Saturday, it would mean the world to me."

"You're sure?" Naomi asks, she feels Emily nodding against her shoulder and smiles," Okay then I'll be there."

Emily hears the door swing open again and lifts her head off of Naomi's shoulder spotting Gina standing in the doorway smiling at them.

"I see you've made up?" Gina says, her voice full of teasing," How about you come inside for some dinner, I'm making pancakes?"

"Pancakes for dinner? Isn't that more of a breakfast item?" Emily grins at Naomi.

Naomi takes her hand and starts leading her inside the house, she stops before they enter and turns to face Emily.

"Of all the things you've seen at this house does dinner pancakes really surprise you?" Naomi says and Emily can only shake her head and continue following.

As soon as she's inside Naomi's mom is instantly pulling out a chair for her to sit on. Naomi's kitchen is simple, just a four seater oak table, no extravagant chandeliers or useless crystal vases like are everywhere in her kitchen. But it's nice she thinks, its just got this home feel and it isn't showing off and Emily can't help but feel completely at home at Naomi's.

"So what do you have there?" Gina says once they're all sitting and eating contentedly.

Emily scans the room for what Gina is pointing at and finally sees the painting she had left by the door when she came in. She flushes, doesn't really want to open it in front of Gina, she's never showed anyone her art work it was always just a secret piece of her and she wanted to show it to Naomi. But by the way Gina was looking at her expectantly she doesn't think there's any way out of this one.

"It's just something I painted, I was going to give it to Naomi," Emily explains, flicking her eyes over to Naomi's for a minute and seeing nothing but curiosity and adoration pouring back at her.

"Well Naomi never told me that you're a painter," Gina says with a grin.

"I don't tell you everything mom," Naomi says feigning irritation, though Emily gets the sneaking suspicion that Naomi does tell her mother nearly everything, she's actually a bit jealous of how open and close they seem to be. Emily wishes she had any semblance of that with her own mother.

"Sure honey, so I must just be a psychic then," Gina laughs," Otherwise how do I know so much about Emily here?"

"She's exaggerating," Naomi insists, directing it towards Emily.

"You should have seen the state she was in before your first date Emily. Pacing the living room for hours it seemed, she even stooped as low as asking Zeus for advice," Gina points to the man walking up the stairs wearing complete head to toe tye dye and long dread locks down to his waist," She must have been desperate, but naturally I stepped in and saved the day. Then she spent hours picking out an outfit, I don't think I've ever seen her so stressed out in my life."

Emily grins and places her hand on top of Naomi's, who was looking more embarrassed by the minute. Naomi must have had no idea but Emily liked the fact that their relationship, that Emily made her nervous. It was oddly comforting knowing that someone as stoic and confident as Naomi usually is can but just as nervous and insecure as everyone else in the world.

"You're sweet," Emily points out," Though I would have been happy doing anything as long as it was with you."

"Ya well I wanted it to be perfect for you," Naomi admits.

"It was," Emily says dreamily, her mind drifting back to that night," It was the best night of my life."

"Good, now that that's settled let me see this painting," Naomi reminds her.

"I don't know," Emily says shyly, feeling uncomfortable with the attention.

"Nonsense," Gina gets up and retrieves the wrapped package, a smile spreading across her face as she unwraps it," This is very good Emily, looks a bit familiar to me too," She adds winking at the red head.

Gina hands the painting to an eager Naomi who instantly recognizes the scenery as the beach where she had taken Emily on their first date. She wonders if Emily did it from memory or if she went back, its impressive either way really. The way the colors meld together and the lines are so graceful, this is what Emily should do is all Naomi can think.

"Well I'll leave you two alone, leave the dishes it's Jesus's turn to do them anyways," Gina says before walking over and giving Emily a hug and whispering "It was nice to meet you" in her ear.

"Your mom is like proper sweet Naoms," Emily says once Gina has left the room.

And it wasn't a lie, Gina has made Emily feel right at home, this was where she belonged, and Emily couldn't help but wonder if it was true.

"She's alright," Naomi grins," Come on lets go upstairs before all the others decide to come barging in here, I'd rather you not have to hear anymore stories about me from them."

Emily nods and follows Naomi upstairs and into her bedroom, she smiles when Naomi puts her painting on top of her dresser facing her bed. Naomi plops down on her bed and pats the place next to her for Emily.

"So what do you want to do?" Naomi asks once Emily has laid down next to her," We could still go to the bonfire."

"Can I ask you something?" Emily asks propping herself up on an elbow to look at her properly.

"Sure," Naomi replies.

"Well you know my dream, what I'd like to do with my life, what's yours?"

And she has Naomi stumped because truth be told over the last couple years Naomi had been living in the moment and ignoring the future. But everything changed when she met Emily, things stopped being just about her and she started thinking in terms of "them".

"I don't know," Naomi answers honestly," I've never given it much thought I guess."

"Have you ever thought about college?" Emily asks hopefully, thinking back to the stack of letters from various universities on her desk waiting to be opened.

"I'm not really college material Em," Naomi says flippantly, not expecting the enraged reaction she gets out of Emily.

"Why do you do that?" Emily asks, her eyes blazing with something Naomi doesn't recognize," Why do you speak that way about yourself, I don't like it and I wont come to your pity party. I think you can do anything, you just need to believe it too."

Naomi eyes her in wonder; it's completely amazing how Emily believes in her so openly. It makes Naomi feel awkward; she has no idea what to say to that.

"What do you love, what are you passionate about?" Emily tries again, and Naomi smiles at Emily's use of the same words she used that night on her boat.

Naomi thinks about the question and the only answer she comes up with is "you" but she shakes that thought out of her head because surely there must be something else.

"The water I guess, anything to do with it. I love the feeling I get when a student rides a wave for the first time without falling, it's the best feeling in the world," Naomi says.

Emily grins, she loves the mental picture of Naomi teaching someone to surf. Actually she loves the image of Naomi surfing herself, all graceful with water flying around her, its remarkably sexy.

"Good, don't let anyone take that away from you," Emily replies," Maybe one day you could teach me to surf."

Naomi bursts out laughing, she can't help it because it had taken a crazy amount of persuasion and some of the physical variety to convince Emily to even step foot in water. She would probably have to make love to her for hours to get her on a surfboard, though it doesn't seem like such a bad idea now that she thinks about it.

"Baby steps Em," Naomi gasps through her laughter," Lets get you swimming first yeah?"

"Oi you never know, I might surprise you," Emily giggles.

"You already do…everyday," Naomi replies, her tone suddenly so serious that it takes Emily of guard.

And her eyes are no longer twinkling with humor but with something else. Its like it's pouring out of Naomi, right out of her soul.

Love

Love is all Emily can see radiating from Naomi's eyes, and its like it's engulfing her in warmth, like she's wrapped up in a warm snuggly place that she never wants to leave. Gina was right all along; Naomi does love her, even if she hasn't admitted it to herself yet.

Emily's powerless not to kiss her in that moment, she leans down slowly from where she's propped up on her elbow and brings their lips together. It's the slowest kiss they've ever had she thinks and Naomi's hands are on the sides of her face holding their mouths together and it feels like Naomi's breathing her in. It quickly turns passionate with Naomi deepening it and rolling them over so she's on top, shifting her hips so her thigh falls between Emily's and presses down slightly with just enough pressure to make Emily yearn for more. Naomi moves her kisses down to Emily's neck, nipping slightly then soothing with her tongue, her hands are slowly inching their way up under Emily's top, fingernails dragging softly across skin as she continues to grind her hips slowly into Emily.

"Oh _fuck_," Emily gasps when Naomi's teasing touches become too much for her.

She's not sure how Naomi's managed to turn her on so much with barely even touching her but she's done it and fuck does it ever feel incredible. Before she knows it she's dragging Naomi's mouth back up to hers and kissing her breathlessly, so much so that all of Naomi's movements come to a halt and soon they're parting and both gasping for air, and Naomi is resting her head in the crook of Emily's neck (the opposite of their usual positions) and pressing soft kisses there.

"You're so beautiful," Emily hears Naomi mumble into her as she nuzzles her face closer and Emily feels like her heart is bursting out of her chest, she wonders if Naomi can feel it beating against her rib cage since they're pressed so close together.

Word vomit starts creeping up Emily's throat.

"I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you," Is all Emily can think.

So she guides Naomi's face back up to hers and kisses her softly to stop herself from blurting something out that Naomi might not be ready to hear.

"Was that okay before?" Naomi asks when they part, she knows she had just taken things a bit further than they ever had and just wants to make sure it was okay.

Emily smiles playfully and tucks a stray piece of blonde hair behind Naomi's ear so she can see her face.

"It was nice," Emily comes up with eventually, stunning herself with her lack of vocabulary at the moment but quite frankly her bran was still a little fuzzy from everything.

"Nice?" Naomi teases," Well that's one I've never heard, I guess I'll have to try a bit harder next time I suppose, maybe I'll get a good or great or even a mind blowing," Naomi quirks her eyebrow suggestively before leaning down and planting a kiss on Emily's nose.

"Well did you ever consider that it was so "nice" that I'm just not able to come up with a better word at the moment? Though I'm actually a bit intrigued with this whole you trying harder scenario because I didn't think it could get better than that."

Naomi smirks, like actually smirks and Emily just knows that Naomi is good at this. There's no denying it because Naomi just looking at her like _that_ is causing her to feel overheated. And Naomi must notice, se must notice the way Emily's breath has quickened and how her face is flushed because she's bridging the gap between them slowly, teasingly until Emily can feel soft breath on her lips. Emily closes her eyes and waits for Naomi to finally close the gap but before she can Emily's phone goes off in her pocket, vibrating not unpleasantly and when she opens her eyes Naomi hasn't moved but is silently laughing to herself.

"That better be a phone in your pocket Em, otherwise I'm going to start thinking you aren't as innocent as you claim to be," Naomi says through a grin.

She reaches in Emily's pocket and pulls out her phone before Emily can think of a comeback.

"It's Effy," Naomi says handing the phone to Emily who flips it open instantly.

"Hello," Emily says and Naomi can hear Effy's voice on the other end asking Emily why she isn't at the bonfire," I'm just bus…" Emily takes a sharp breath when Naomi resumes kissing her neck, tries pathetically to push her off to no avail," busy I mean…no I'm not with Naomi."

Naomi smiles against Emily's neck and grinds her hips down into Emily's again, kisses her way down Emily's neck and lingers on her collarbone while one of her hands rest on Emily's hips, manipulating them so Emily's experiencing the most friction possible.

"Christ," Emil breathes out and Naomi can hear the amused tone in Effy's voice through the receiver," Fuck it, yes I'm with Naomi and we're a bit busy at the moment so fuck off will you!"

Emily snaps the phone shut and tosses it on the floor in desperation, dragging Naomi back up to her mouth and kissing her filthily, their tongues swirling together. She pushes her hands up under Naomi's shirt and starts smoothing her hands up and down Naomi's back, raking her nails up and down every so often. Naomi starts shaking then, Goosebumps breaking out on her skin as she breaks the kiss to get a much-needed breath.

"Jesus," Naomi says huskily," How do you make me feel so good."

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Emily replies.

Naomi leans down and gives her one last chaste kiss before rolling to the side and lying next to her, attempting to catch her breath. It makes Emily love her more, the fact that she just knew that Emily wasn't quite ready to go any further. Emily searches blindly for Naomi's hand and intertwines their fingers when she finds it.

"You know I was furious with my parents when they told me we were coming here for the summer," Emily admits.

"Really?" Naomi says curiously

"Ya I wanted one last summer with my friends, you know before I move to America for school," Emily explains," But now I feel like I should thank them, you've made this the best summer of my life. And I know its coming to an end but I don't want us to."

Naomi smiles at her and gives her hand a squeeze.

"You've made this the best summer of my life to Em," Naomi says," How about we spend the next couple weeks enjoying it as much as we can and deal with everything when it comes?"

Emily nods, she isn't sure if putting everything on the back burner is the best idea but she trusts Naomi, and if Naomi wants to spend the next little while blissfully happy then who was she to deny her of that.

"Sure," Emily replies," Brings their hands up to her mouth and places a kiss on the back of Naomi's," So how about that bonfire then? I'm sure Effy will be here in a few minutes to drag us there anyways, plus it could be fun."

"Lets go then," Naomi says, making her way over to the closet and tossing a sweater at Emily," Wear this or you'll most likely be cold."

Emily smiles at Naomi's thoughtfulness and pulls the sweater over her head. Its to big for her, in fact the sleeves fully cover her hands but she secretly loves wearing Naomi's clothes.

"I was hoping you'd keep me warm," Emily says with a mischievous smile.

"In that case give me the sweater back," Naomi plays along," But you look so cute in it."

"Come on you tosser," Emily rolls up one of her sleeves and takes Naomi's hand dragging her down the stairs and out the door.

As predicted Cook and Effy find them instantly at the party, and Cook is looking at Naomi with that toothy grin that Naomi knows means that Effy told him about the phone call. He's probably expecting details, because Naomi normally would tell him about her conquests but Emily wasn't a conquest so he wasn't going to get anything out of her.

"Ladies, nice of you to join us, didn't take you long to come after Effy's call," Cook grins, his pun not going unnoticed by Naomi or Emily.

Naomi shoots him a warning glare and his grin falters for a minute before he moves forward and wraps his arm around Emily's shoulder, patting her patronizingly on the head.

"Don't tell me Naomi here has lost her touch," Cook whispers in Emily's ear and she elbows him in the ribs successfully causing him to back away from her.

"Judging by the smile on Emily's face when she strolled in here I think its safe to say that Naomi's touch is still in tact, right Em," Effy smirks, links her arm through Cook's and starts dragging him toward the keg," Now enough teasing of the love birds lets get a drink."

Naomi and Emily follow not long after; Naomi wraps her arm around Emily and pulls her in close whispering, "I'm sorry" in her ear. But Emily doesn't mind Cook's teasing, its just how he is and Emily's come to actually enjoy his little taunts even when they are directed at her. It shows that he likes her Emily thinks because from what she's noticed if Cook doesn't like someone he doesn't give them the time of day, he's a lot like Effy in that respect they're just as well suited for each other as her and Naomi she thinks.

"Beer," Effy asks, holding two cups towards Naomi and Emily.

"Sure why not," Emily says with a shrug, she's found in the past that she doesn't hold her alcohol well but figures if she just has a drink or two she wouldn't have a problem.

So when Cook holds up his cup and goes off on some sort of bellowing speech about how they should live in the moment Emily catches Naomi's eye and raises her cup as well. She drinks to the sentiment, hopes that Naomi's thinking the same thing as her, that if she was going to live in the moment there's no one else Emily would rather do it with.

"Listen you don't have to sit here with me all night," Emily says a while later while her and Naomi are sitting on the outskirts of the crowd.

She knows that Naomi went to school with the majority of these people and a lot of them would be leaving for school in the fall, it was only natural that Naomi would want to say goodbye at least.

"I like sitting with you," Naomi grins," I kind of like you, you know."

"Well I'm kind of warming up to you too," Emily says sarcastically," But seriously Naoms go and mingle I'll be fine for a while," Emily shushes Naomi when she goes to protest again," Seriously this may be the last time you see the majority of these people, so go and say your goodbyes."

"You're the best," Naomi kisses her quickly," You sure you'll be okay for a bit?"

Emily laughs and nods, pointing across the field to where Effy is sitting by herself as well.

"I think I'll survive," Emily says

"I'll be back in no time," Naomi assures her, kissing her on the forehead before she turns and heads into the group of people surrounding the fire.

Emily stands up and dusts off her pants, she makes her way over to the keg getting another drink before she grabs the empty space next to Effy, who looks at her with the same smirk she had been wearing all night.

"No Naomi?" Effy questions.

"She's mingling," Emily replies," No Cook?"

"He's mingling," Effy laughs," I haven't seen you without Naomi attached to your hip in ages."

Taking a swig of her beer, Emily glares at Effy over the cup. The truth was she had been missing her best friend lately; they just got so wrapped up in their respective new relationships that they didn't have much time for each other as of late.

"I could say the same about you," Emily points out," How are things with Cook?"

"Pretty lovely," Effy admits, and Emily's never seen her sound so sincere about a relationship before," So have you told Naomi you love her yet?"

And just like that Effy's as always managed to see right through Emily's front, as well as effectively changing the subject away from her feelings.

"What?" Emily feigns surprise but when Effy kinks her eyebrow in that irritatingly knowing way Emily knows there's no point trying to hide anything from her," No I haven't, hasn't been the right time yet."

"Well I hate to point it out Emily but you're kind of running out of time to wait for the right time," Effy says sadly," Or have you not noticed the stack of college letters that your mum brought to your room last week? You're going to be leaving in a couple of weeks."

"I know," Emily shakes her head, wishes she was able to change things somehow," Have you and Cook talked about what you're going to do at the end of the summer?"

"Not really," Effy admits," You and Naomi?"

Emily shakes her head and they both start laughing quietly.

"Quite a pair we are," Emily says.

"You know what," Effy declares standing up suddenly," I say fuck it, the end of summer is going to come whether we like it or not, its no reason not to enjoy life right now yeah?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Emily agrees," So I hate to steal Cook's words but here's to living in the moment and having a good time."

Effy clinks her cup against Emily's and nods before they finish their drinks and head to get another one.

Emily finds herself watching Naomi from afar, she can't help it, it's like her eyes are just drawn to her. And she looks so beautiful all smiley and social and Emily's actually really glad they came; it's nice to see Naomi in her natural habitat for a change.

She's filling up her cup again when she feels arms wrap around her waist and her nose is filled with that familiar smell that she can only describe as "Naomi".

"How many drinks have you had miss Fitch," Naomi whispers teasingly in her ear," Am I going to have to carry you home?"

Emily thinks back, she thinks she's had four or five, which is more than normal, and yes she does have a bit of a buzz going but she's perfectly capable of walking so she tells Naomi so.

"I can walk just fine thank you," Emily says matter-of-factly, turning around in Naomi's arms and wrapping her arms around Naomi's neck.

"Well in that case do you want to dance with me?" Naomi asks.

"I thought you didn't dance," Emily challenges.

"I normally don't but I do believe you told me this is your favorite song so I figured you might like to," Naomi grins and Emily listens for the first time to the song playing in the background.

Hears "with or without you" by U2 blaring out of the speakers off to the side and wonders why anyone in their right mind would play a slow song at a party. Emily nods anyways and takes Naomi's hand, lets her lead her over to the clearing that some of the kids had been using as a makeshift dance floor the majority of the night. She wraps her arms around Naomi's neck again and Naomi's encircle her waist pulling her as close as physically possible. And then they're moving, slowing swaying and Emily rests her head against Naomi's shoulder savoring the moment.

Emily's never actually slow danced with a girl before, she's only danced like this with boys. Always standing at awkward distances from each other and barely touching so she never really understood why girls always seemed to make such a big deal over it, but now she understood.

"So I have a confession," Naomi says into Emily's hair," I made them play this song because I wanted to dance with you."

"Oh really, you're getting soft Campbell," Emily mocks, pulls Naomi as close as she can and sighs in contentment against her shoulder.

"Only with you," Naomi whispers and before Emily can reply Naomi's spinning them around in quicker circles and Emily's holding on tight around her neck to keep herself from falling.

And Emily doesn't think she's laughed so much in her life, but Naomi's making this adorable face as they spin and she can't help it. She doesn't expect Naomi to pick her up mid swing and kiss her, and she's forced to re think the soft comment because Naomi is obviously stronger than she thought as she keeps spinning them around as they kiss.

Naomi puts her down just before the song ends and Emily wobbles on her stance a bit, her knees feeling incredibly weak all of a sudden.

"Shit sorry Em that probably wasn't the best idea with your tipsy head," Naomi smiles apologetically, letting Emily rest all her weight on her.

"Its not the alcohol that's making my head spin, its you," Emily says," Its always you."

Naomi kisses her through a smile, using her free hand to flip Cook off behind Emily's back as he makes cat calls at them.

Emily manages to convince Naomi to dance to a few more songs, laughing as the blonde awkwardly bops to a faster Justin Timberlake song that just isn't her style. Taking some pity Emily pulls Naomi's hands forward and places them around her body and forces Naomi to move with her, grinding their bodies together. And Naomi seems to be enjoying herself much more now, she's smiling and laughing and breathing heavily in Emily's ear.

"I should probably get you home, it's late," Naomi says as the song comes to a close," Besides I think we've given them all enough of a show for one night."

Naomi tilts her head to the side pointing out the group of guys eyeing them up with wonder, Emily giggles and allows Naomi to lead her away from the party and towards the car. Emily jumps when she gets inside, doesn't expect to find Effy and Cook making out in the back seat.

"Fuck sake! I said you could wait in the car not soil it," Naomi grunts as she plops down in the drivers seat," Cookie had a bit to much so I'm taking him home which means Effy's coming along for the ride too."

"You're the best Naomikins," Cook shouts," Now turn on the fucking radio we need some music."

Naomi does as she's told, puts on some stupid pop station that she knows Cook will enjoy and pulls out of the gravel makeshift parking lot. By the time she reaches Emily's the three of them are belting out a Justin Bieber song, that Naomi would normally switch off at the first notes, but Emily just looked to cute bopping along to it.

"You know you love me, I know you care, just shout whenever and i'll be there," Emily sings, incredibly out of tune, her eyes screwed shut and Naomi cant help but smile.

Book trying to rap to Ludacris is what tips her over the edge, she can't hold the laughter in anymore and she honestly can't wait till the next morning so she can mock them all. She switches off the radio and receives three glares from the occupants of the car.

"Your home Ems," Naomi says, reaching her hand across to smooth out Emily's hair.

"Mmmm," Emily sighs, in that incredibly drunk way," Okay, i'm a bit tired anyways."

"Yeah?" Naomi asks and Emily nods," Well drink some water before bed okay?"

Emily nods again sleepily and leans over to give Naomi a lazy kiss goodbye. Effy has to help her inside and Naomi wishes she could do something to help but knows that her being in the house at 2:00 AM would only draw more attention to the situation. So she just sits back in her seat and trusts that Effy can take care of Emily, besides she'd been doing it for years before Naomi came along so she must have been quite capable.

If Naomi hadn't of been worried and stayed to make sure that the light in Emily's window switched on she would never have noticed anyone else presence. But she does, its only out of the corner of her eye but two rooms down from Emily's she spots a figure standing in the window. She squints trying to figure out who it is and when she focuses hard enough it becomes as clear as day, Jenna Fitch, standing in the window giving her such a steely gaze that it almost knocks the wind out of her. So Emily wasn't exaggerating when she talked about her parents Naomi thinks as she puts the car in reverse and pulls out of the drive way. And its like she can feel Emily's mothers gaze following her all the way down the drive and onto the street until the house is no longer in view, she can feel the hair standing up on the back of her neck and her palms starting to sweat. And if she wasn't nervous about meeting Emily's family before she sure as hell was now, because if that look had anything to say about it Naomi was fairly certain she wasn't Mrs. Fitch's favorite person.

"Okay Cook lets get you home," Naomi says after a minute, turns around to see Cook passed out in the back seat with his mouth wide open.

She sets off towards his house smiling at the fact that he doesn't even have to be conscious to make her feel better.


	7. The Ice is Getting Thinner

**Okay wow so I might be the worst author ever, its literally been months since I've updated this! This one might be a little rough as I was a little bit out of tune with the story after leaving it for so long but I hope its not too bad! I hope you enjoy, drop a review if you want, even if it is just to give me hell about not updating for so long lol! **

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It starts creeping up in Naomi almost instantly after dropping Emily off that night.

Nervousness

And its funny actually because Naomi's never really been remotely nervous in her life. She wasn't nervous when she rode her first wave, on her first day of school or even the first time she had sex. But for some reason that look on Emily' mothers face had left Naomi shaking in her boots. Naomi couldn't shake the feeling that Mrs Fitch had already decided that she didn't like her before they had even properly met. But Naomi was trying to push the negative out of her mind because she didn't have much more guaranteed time left with Emily and she didn't want to ruin what she did have left by being preoccupied. Besides it wasn't as if she could say anything about it because the whole "meet the parents" thing had been her idea in the first place.

Her nerves did make a few scatter appearances as Saturday approached despite Naomi's efforts, but she had managed to keep her insecurities hidden from Emily for the most part, until tonight anyways.

Emily had convinced her to go to some shit movie, that the rest of the town must have agreed was shit because er and Emily ended up being the only two in the theatre. Emily had convinced her to stay with a wink and a devilish grin that promised it would be worth Naomi's while to stick around. And sure enough its about half way through the movie and Naomi hasn't seen a minute of it, it was pretty hard to concentrate on a movie plot when Emily's lips were attacking hers and Emily's hand was stroking her thigh. Its all well and lovely, and actually kind of hot (Surprisingly enough Naomi's never made out in a theatre before) but she just can't get the thought out of her head that tomorrow is Saturday. Kind of hates her brain a little for not allowing her body to enjoy the sensation of Emily pressed up against her.

Emily must notice that Naomi's mind is somewhere else because she pulls away and pins Naomi with a look that says " seriously what's the problem?"

"Where's your head at?" Emily says and Naomi tries to dismiss it all and leans back in to kiss Emily but she backs up out of Naomi's reach," Seriously Noams, you've been distant all night, actually you've been a little odd all week."

And Naomi's surprised because she really though she had done a better job of hiding her insistent thoughts but apparently like always Emily saw right through her act.

"Actually you've been a bit odd since the bonfire," Emily says as if to herself, like she's realizing something for the first time," Did I do something wrong that night?"

"Fuck Em no," Naomi says.

"It's the sex thing isn't it?" Emily says, her face clear with the realization she thought she had reached," You're frustrated with my lack of experience."

Naomi chuckles lightly, which doesn't appear to be the right reaction because Emily's facing forward towards the movie now and tears are brimming her eyes. Naomi reaches out and turns Emily's chin towards her, forcing the red head to listen to what she's about to say.

"Sorry I shouldn't have laughed before, it's just you said was so ridiculous," Naomi says softly.

"Its not ridiculous Naomi!" Emily exclaims," You have needs and they aren't getting filled, when's the last time you went this long without shagging?"

Naomi shakes her head violently at Emily's assumption.

"Emily will you shut up and listen to me for a minute," Naomi says, effectively snapping Emily out of her rant.

Naomi sees it then, fear in Emily's eyes. Wonders to her self how long Emily's been worried about this.

"I'm only going to say this one more time," Naomi starts, continues clearly enunciating each word," Its not all about sex with me, you're so much more to me than that. I'm with you for this," Naomi points to Emily's head," And this," she places her palm flat above Emily's heart, feeling the thundering beat under her hand," Its only a plus that you're so fucking sexy," she adds with a quirk of her eyebrow," Besides I'm quite capable of abstaining, last time I checked I'm not an addict, you haven't been feeling pressured by me have you? Naomi asks, suddenly worried that she had done something to make Emily feel this way.

"Of course not," Emily assures her, her voice sounding rational again," You've just seemed a little distant the last couple days and I know we haven't been overly physical and I want to, I do, but all your experience intimidates me. You make me so fucking nervous."

Naomi smiles warmly, thinks Emily looks adorable when she rambles.

"Do you want to know why I've been acting strange?" Naomi asks and Emily nods," Because I'm nervous," Naomi says through a chuckle," All I can think about is that I'm meeting your family tomorrow and I want them to like me. I feel so inadequate compared to you Emily; I'm so inexperienced at this whole relationship thing. I've never properly met anyone's parents before and it's slightly terrifying."

Naomi takes a deep breath, calming herself before lifting her eyes to wage Emily's reaction. Much to her surprise Emily is grinning back at her and linking their hands together tightly.

"Why didn't you say something before?" Emily asks," You're perfect Naoms, you have nothing to worry about."

"Why didn't you?" Naomi shrugs.

"No more hiding the things that are bothering us," Emily asks.

"Deal," Naomi replies with a smile," Now if I'm not mistaken you said something before about wanting things to get more physical," Naomi smirks.

"Did I?" Emily feigns innocence, smiling when Naomi leans in and starts placing wet kisses on her neck," Hmm that's nice."

Naomi pulls back and bites her lip to contain her smile.

"And as for your so called "inexperience"," Naomi says," I'd be more than willing to be your tour guide through the physical."

Emily shakes her head and pulls Naomi close by the back of her neck so their lips are almost touching.

"I'm sure you would," She whispers against Naomi's lips," Soon," She promises and feels Naomi shudder against her.

This time when Naomi kisses her she's all in it, and Emily can feel the connection she was missing before. And for that next hour Emily manages to force back Naomi's nerves with sweet kisses and comforting touches and Naomi couldn't be more grateful.

The next day Naomi was just as nervous as ever, she rolls out of bed and changes quickly before grabbing her surf board and making her trek down to the beach. Surfing had always made her feel calm, something about doing something she knew she was good at always made her relax.

Today however didn't go as she had planned. Everything was going fine until she clipped the front of her board on a wave, got thrown forward and sucked down by the under tow hitting her head on a rock in the process. Thankfully she didn't get knocked out but she now had one hell of a gash above her right eyebrow and the starting of a black eye forming.

"Great," Naomi sighs as her mom cleans her up," Now not only am I nervous as hell but I look like I've been roughed up too!"

Gina smiles warmly and brings the tip of the cloth up and around Naomi's cut, whispering sorry when Naomi winces.

"It's pretty deep Naomi," Gina points out as she inspects the wound closer," You may need stitches."

Naomi backs away and inspects it in the mirror herself. It did look pretty bad, but she was meant to be at Emily's in just over an hour so there really wasn't any time for a hospital visit.

"Just cover it up and I'll go tomorrow, I can't be late for this dinner," Naomi replies and sits back down on the edge of the bathtub.

"Fine, but you are going tomorrow whether you like it or not," Gina states as she unrolls some gauze off the roll and cuts it.

"Deal," Naomi concedes.

"Now tell me, how did this happen? I haven't seen you have a spill like this in years," Gina asks, gently placing the square of gauze over Naomi's wound and beginning to tape down the corners.

"I guess I was just distracted," is all Naomi can come up with," I thought surfing would help calm me down but I ended up not being able to concentrate."

"What are you so nervous about? Emily's pretty great so I'm sure her parents are as well," Gina offers.

"You didn't see the look Emily's mom gave me that night, it was like a vulture eyeing up its prey," Naomi cringes at the memory.

"It'll be fine Naomi, just show them how much you care about Emily and be polite and you'll be fine," Gina tries to calm her daughter.

"If you say so," Naomi says, not convinced.

She pulls herself up again and inspects her moms handy work, it still looked bad but not as horrible as before, though the bruising was more prominent now.

"Thanks mom," Naomi says," I've gotta go get ready, but I'll be home later and will probably need consoling."

"I'll be here," Gina assures her.

Naomi nods and makes her way out of the bathroom stumbling over her feet a little, wondering if she might have a concussion on top of everything else. She shakes the thought from her head, doesn't really have time to worry abut it at the moment. Once she reaches her closet she thumbs through the hangers until she finds the outfit she had put together the night before. Its simple, just a pair of black kapris amd a black V neck tee shirt, not to tight but not too loose either, she hopes this is what Emily meant by "nice casual".

It takes her a while to get dressed, careful not to snag her cut on her shirt, so by the time she's finished getting dressed and her hair she has to leave for Emily's. She's out the door after a quick hug and good luck from her mom and picking up the flowers from the kitchen that she had picked up for Emily earlier. After taking three calming breaths in the car she flicks on the ignition and is on her way.

When Naomi arrives at Emily's she finds her girlfriend sitting outside on the swinging bench reading. Emily looks up when she hears a car coming up the driveway, folds down the corner of her page and places the book aside. She looks really nice is all Naomi can think, suddenly over come with the feeling of being underdressed because Emily is wearing a white sundress with her hair pulled back out of her face, she looked anything but casual.

Emily's smile instantly falls when Naomi gets close enough to get a good look at her, her eyes trailing over Naomi's black eye and settling on the bandage over her eyebrow. She's up in an instant and in front of Naomi, tugging the blonde face down to access the wound.

"Naoms what happened?" Emily asks, sudden thought crossing her mind and making her blood boil," Did someone hit you or something?"

Naomi watches in amusement as Emily's body tenses, apparently going into "killer Emily" mode to defend her if it was needed.

"No, nothing like that," Naomi says, reaching an arm around Emily's waist in a comforting gesture, feeling Emily's muscles relax at her touch,' I was just trying to work of some nerves so I went surfing this morning and I guess I was distracted and fell. I just hit my head a bit is all."

"Hit your head a bit?" Emily repeats angrily," you've bled through the bandage and your eye's is all bruised! You probably need stitches, you should have called!"

"Emily relax okay," Naomi says," Im fine, my mom already looked at it and I'm going to the hospital tomorrow, I just didn't want to fuck up this dinner okay, so I'm here and ready and look I brought you flowers," Naomi hands the bouquet to her," Gerber daises, you favorite."

"You are so ridiculous." Emily says through a smile," you've got a gash on your forehead that probably needs stitches and you still manage to remember to bring me flowers, are you sure you've never done this relationship thing before? Because you're oddly good at it."

Naomi blushes then, eyeing Emily happily as she smells the flowers.

"And you blush for me, I love it." Emily adds.

"Okay enough, what do you call it, "taking the piss"," Naomi tries to remember.

"Very good British Naoms, my dad will be impressed," Emily smiles," Speaking of we should get inside, dinner is almost ready."

"Okay," Naomi gulps audibly, the pressure of the situation coming back at her at full force. But then Emily takes her hand and presses a chaste kiss to her lips and suddenly everything doesn't seem so dismal.

Emily leads her through the front door and Naomi takes a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever might be across the threshold. She isn't sure what she expects to find inside, maybe a dungeon and a fire breathing dragon that she would have to slay or something. But in reality it was just a really nice house. It was huge, high ceilings and brand new hardwood floors. Naomi's head snaps around taking in whats meant to be the entrance, lounge and what looked like a library, she could almost fit her whole house in just the first couple rooms of Emily's wonders briefly how much money the Fitches really had because this was just their summer home.

Emily notices her looking around in awe and rolls her eyes tugging on Naomi's hand until she begins to follow again. She leads Naomi down a long hallway, turning a couple times before they reach a dinning room and kitchen a little ways off. the dinning room table is huge, one of those that you only see in movies about rich people, but it isn't set and Naomi looks at Emily curiously.

"We're going to eat outside on the terrace," Emily says understanding Naomi's look.

"Terrace?" Naomi says dumbfounded," How come I never knew how loaded you are Emily?"

Emily rolls her eyes again, it had been nice having nobody here know about her parents financial situation. Everyone back in Bristol treated her different because of her trust fund, it felt nice to be normal for a change.

"Would it have changed anything?" Emily asks, trying to keep her voice light but the question had been weighing on her for a while now.

Naomi scoffs and shakes her head.

"I couldn't give less of a shit about money Emily," Naomi says sincerely," But maybe I would have let you pay a couple times!"

"Oi!" Emily exclaims, reaching up and dragging Naomi's face down into a kiss, losing herself in it until she hears someone clear their throat from across the room. Emily backs up so quickly that Naomi almost loses her balance and topples over but catches herself at the last moment. She scans the room for the reason Emily had freaked out.

She sees Emily's mother standing in the doorway to the dining room, her arms crossed over her chest and a look on her face that could kill, and Naomi thinks that maybe she was right about having to slay dragons after all. She's broken from her stare down with Mrs. Fitch by Emily tugging on her hand, she eye's Emily skeptically but follows her across the room regardless.

"Mum," Emily says once they've come to a stop in front of her mother," This is Naomi."

Naomi hesitantly reaches her hand out for Mrs Fitch to shake, sees her eyes narrow slightly, looking her up and down before she plasters on a fake smile and accepts the handshake. Naomi literally felt the sigh of relief that Emily let out, she wasn't sure if it was because Emily believed that her mom was pleased or that she was happy that her mom didn't make a scene. But either way Naomi felt slightly better that Emily was a little less tense.

"Naomi," Mrs Fitch says slowly, as if trying to decide if she liked the way it sounded," Emily has told me and her dad so much about you."

Naomi swallows audibly, wonders briefly if this was at all how Emily was feeling when she met Gina.

"Its nice to meet you," Naomi croaks out, seemingly losing her voice all of a sudden.

"Why don't you two head out to the terrace, dinner should be ready any minute and me and Rob will join you in a minute."

With that Emily's mother turns on her heel and heads back towards the kitchen. Emily takes Naomi's hand again and offers her a warm smile before leading her out through the back door towards the terrace where there was a long table set with four places.

"So just answer me this, if there's only four of us why do we need to use such a large table?" Naomi asks amused.

"Don't ask me," Emily laughs, leading Naomi to one side of the table where two tables settings were next to each other," Mum and dad always sit at the head of the table, and the bigger the table to more important they feel, or at least that's what me and Katie have decided. You should see the one we have back home in Bristol, we sit so far away from each other that we have to yell to have a proper conversation, its ridiculous!"

"Hmm sounds cozy," Naomi replies sarcastically, taking her seat next to Emily and eyeing the silverware in front of her. She has never seen so many forks in her life, now she felt even more in over her head." What are we having for dinner Emily?"

"Not sure actually, lets just pray she hasn't cooked herself because if she has you're in for a real treat Naoms," Emily grins.

"So what the fuck are all the forks for?" Naomi asks, blushing when she realizes how stupid it must have sounded.

"Well there will be several courses, there's a fork for each one," Emily explains, placing a comforting hand over Naomi's when she senses Naomi's discomfort," It's all about appearances, it really doesn't make a difference which fork you use."

"You could have warned me, I would have studied or something, now I'm gonna look like a complete idiot in front of your parents," Naomi says, her eyes scanning over the table setting in front of her in panic.

Emily watches Naomi in wonder, doesn't understand how anyone could believe that this creature in front of her was anything other than perfect. She feels a little guilty herself for believing the worst about Naomi when they first met, because now that she's gotten to know the real Naomi Emily can see that she really is one of the sweetest and most caring people she has ever met.

"I can show you," Emily says, wanting to rid Naomi of the panicked expression she was wearing as quickly as possible," Its not that difficult I swear."

Emily gives Naomi a crash course in fine dining as quickly as she could, knowing it wouldn't be much longer until her father joined them and made Naomi feel more awkward than she was already feeling. She's pleased with her efforts when after only a short amount of time Naomi is able to successfully identify each piece of cutlery without much trouble and is rewarded by Naomi kissing her on the cheek and whispering "Thank you" in her ear.

"Ladies," her fathers voice cuts through her and Naomi's comfortable silence, causing both of them to look in his direction instantly.

Naomi stands up abruptly and extends her hand, hoping she's doing the right thing, but feeling reassured when Mr. Fitch accepts her hand shake with a smile. His presence doesn't make her quake with fear the way his wife's does, he seems much more laid back Naomi thinks, understands completely why Emily claims herself to be a daddy's girl.

"Naomi," Mr Fitch says through a thick accent," Its so nice to finally meet the girl that has my Emily smiling so much lately."

Naomi looks to Emily and can't contain a small grin at the embarrassed look on her face.

"Its nice to meet you as well sir, Emily's has told me so much about you," Naomi replies, wondering to herself if maybe there was some way to lock Emily's mother in the kitchen and just have dinner with Mr. Fitch instead.

That thought is quickly dismissed when Naomi sees Mrs. Fitch striding across the lawn in their direction, looking like she's on a mission, a mission that Naomi can only assume at this point is to destroy her somehow.

"Well lets sit down then," Mrs. Fitch says, shooting her husband a look that Naomi can't quite read," Grace will bring out the first course right away."

As they took their seats and waited for the food to be served Naomi notices for the first time that all three of the Fitches are wearing white and she had chosen to wear black, marking her visually as the black sheep that she felt like at the moment.

They eat in moderate silence, the Fitches only asking Emily some questions about how her tennis lessons were that day and every now and then asking Naomi simple questions like where she went to high school and what her mother did for a living. Emily's father briefly brings up the bandage on Naomi's forehead and actually cracks what Naomi thought was a genuine smile when she told the story of her wipeout from earlier that day, which in hindsight was a little comical she realized once she started to recount it. And Naomi starts thinking for a second that her and Emily might just make it out of this dinner unscathed, that was until Jenna finished the last remnants of her dessert and pushed her plate away anyways. It was like Naomi could physically feel the atmosphere shift, Emily's mother, who up until this point seemed to be at least trying to hide her obvious distaste for her daughter's relationship, was now looking at Naomi through narrowed eyes as if she was sizing her up.

"So Naomi," Jenna says, the tone of her voice instantly making Naomi tense slightly," Emily tells me you work down at the little marina, something about being a being a boat tour guide?"

"Yes, I do tours and the odd surfing lesson when I have the time," Naomi replies, looking at Emily nervously.

"How much do you make at your job, if you don't mind me asking," Jenna asks, a look coming over her face that Naomi could only describe as a sneer.

"Mum!" Emily exclaims, staring at her mother in disbelief. This was exactly what she had worried about when she had invited Naomi over for dinner, she didn't want her mother to scare Naomi away," You don't have to answer that," Emily says turning to Naomi and giving her a reassuring look.

"No it's okay Em," Naomi says," I make ten dollars an hour."

Jenna audibly clears her throat, shooting Rob a look that didn't go unnoticed by Naomi.

"I know it's not much but it isn't forever, and It's just me and I really don't need a lot," Naomi suddenly felt the need to justify herself to Jenna, and even Rob who was just sitting silently at the other end of the table.

"Well what are your plans for the fall then?" Rob finally speaks up," Have you decided which University you're wanting to attend?"

Emily feels Naomi tense up even more and places what she hopes is a comforting hand on her thigh.

"Naomi really hasn't figured out what she wants to do with the future yet, she's going to be taking the next year off," Emily answers for her, sensing that Naomi was floundering for something to say.

"Ya I just haven't quite figured out if school is right for me," Naomi says quietly when she gathers herself again.

"But how can you figure out what you want to do with your life if you don't go to school? School is where you find your self," Jenna says, narrowing her eyes questioningly at Naomi who was really starting to sweat at this point," I mean you can't want to be a tour guide forever and there can't be much room for advancement there?"

Emily's eyes widen, she could literally feel the anger boiling up inside of her. She was literally a few seconds away from saying something to her mother that she might regret.

"Mother," Emily exclaims, glaring at her mum," Not everyone goes to University mother, and Naomi didn't say she wasn't going, she said she wasn't going next fall, that doesn't mean never."

"Okay okay fair enough," Jenna replies, raising her hands in defeat," It sounds like you two have discussed what you're going to do about next year then?"

Jenna shoots her eyes back and forth between Naomi and Emily, smiling inwardly at the look of complete confusion on her daughters girlfriends face, perhaps Emily hasn't been as honest with Naomi as she let on.

"Well I'll be staying here as far as I know, but Berkeley is only an hour and a half away, so I can visit Emily whenever, or vice versa you know," Naomi answers confidently, smiling at Emily.

"Berkeley?" Jenna questions, looking over at Rob and then back to Emily.

"Yes Berkeley mum," Emily says sternly, her eyes begging her mother to just drop it.

"But Emily's going to Brown," Jenna points out," All three of us sat down and looked over her choices and decided that Brown was the best fit."

Emily felt like the walls were caving in on her, she could actually feel Naomi pulling away, maybe not physically because she was still sitting there and holding her hand but she could feel her moving away mentally and emotionally. Emily desperately tried to catch Naomi's eye, to try and figure out what Naomi was thinking, but Naomi seemed intent on staring directly forward.

"You have told Naomi about Brown haven't you?" Jenna's voice cut through the awkward tension that had settled over the table.

"I was going to, I was going to talk to you tonight actually," Emily turns towards Naomi, forcing her to make eye contact and watching Naomi put on a fake smile.

"Its okay," Naomi says," We can talk later."

"Well it was great meeting you Naomi, but me and Jenna have a cocktail party to go to down the block, leave the dishes and someone will be around to clean them up shortly," Rob says.

And with that him and Jenna got up and, Rob shook Naomi's hand again and Jenna gave her a half smile before they made their way back into the house leaving Naomi and Emily alone once again. Naomi sat back down at the table and fiddled with the food still left on her plate, she needed to gather her thoughts before she spoke to Emily. She was sure that Emily didn't intentionally not tell her about Brown but Naomi couldn't help but feel that Emily had led her on a little. Allowing her to go on believing that everything was fine, that they actually had a future when really Emily was planning on moving across the country in three weeks.

"Why don't we go inside, I can show you my room?" Emily says hopefully.

She isn't naïve, she knows her and Naomi need to talk but doesn't want to do it here, the dinner table feeling now more like a battleground where her girlfriend took more than her share of abuse.

"Sure," Naomi agrees, standing up and extending her hand to allow Emily to lead her inside.

They retrace their steps from earlier when Naomi arrived, and make their way up the large staircase that was in front of the front door. Emily's room is very proper and not at all like Naomi would have expected it to be decorated, Naomi had a feeing that it had already been pre painted the awful lilac color that adorned the walls when they moved in and Emily had just went with it seeing as she wasn't planning on staying long. The thought of Emily leaving soon was eating her up inside, its not like she didn't know that this was coming because she did, but she had no idea Emily would be going so far away, basically as far away as she could get from her without leaving the country. She didn't want to think about it though, the last think Naomi wanted to do was to make Emily feel guilty for getting into such a good school, if Brown was where Emily wanted to go then she was going to go no matter how much it was going to break Naomi's heart to watch her leave.

Naomi turns her attention to the pictures scattering the room, figures that by surrounding herself with snapshots of her life Emily felt like she was making this place a little more her own, a little more like home.

"Is this Katie?" Naomi says when she comes across a photo of Emily and a girl who looks similar to her.

"Ya that's "Katie Fucking Fitch" as she likes to be called," Emily mocks what Naomi assumes is the way that Katie talks.

The picture is of them at some sort of formal or something and they're wearing the same purple off the shoulder dress but Naomi still can't believe anyone would ever be able to get them confused. Emily looked so shy but so beautiful at the same time, and Katie looked cocky and a little too made up for her tastes.

"You don't look anything alike," Naomi feels the need to point out.

"You don't think so?" Emily says, giving her a strange look.

"Well obviously there are similarities but you aren't the same, you're so much more beautiful," Naomi says nonchalantly as she places the picture frame back down on the shelf.

Emily feels herself flush, is a little thankful that Naomi is looking in the other direction because she's sure the look on her face at the moment was something similar to a love sick puppy. But Naomi doesn't turn back and face her, she just continues wandering around, looking at photo's and trinkets and anything really to avoid having the conversation that Emily knows they're both dreading.

"Naomi can you stop fidgeting and come over here and talk to me," Emily says softly, patting the space next to her on the bed," Please?"

And Naomi can't deny that, has a hard enough time denying Emily anything but finds it nearly impossible to when Emily says please in such a desperate tone of voice.

So she stops wandering the room and sits down next to her girlfriend, allows Emily to take her hand and smiles reassuringly at the red head.

"I was going to tell you," Emily speaks so quietly that its almost a whisper.

"Its okay," Naomi replies," I'm not upset, it was just a shock is all."

"Stop doing that," Emily says abruptly causing Naomi eye's to widen slightly, her brain running in over drive to try and figure out what she had possibly said that was wrong," Stop pretending that nothings wrong, stop holding everything in just to make me feel better."

Naomi doesn't know what to say, the entire situation sucks but in her mind there really isn't much use wallowing in it because all it would do would be to waste the time that they have together and wouldn't change anything anyways. She wants to tell Emily that she's terrified about next year, that she's all opened up with no defenses left and she's afraid that when Emily leaves she wont be able to make it alone and she hates feeling so code-pendant. But she doesn't, doesn't want to make things any harder for Emily than she's sure they already are, so she opts for a joke instead, hoping to lighten the mood for a little while at least.

"Would you prefer I try to make you feel bad?" Naomi replies with a lopsided grin

Emily rolls her eyes at Naomi's attempt to make her smile, though she can't help but crack a small one despite herself.

"No but I'd rather if you'd tell me what you're really thinking instead of trying to make me happy all the time," Emily rewords herself," Just stop burying everything inside, I want to know what you think and what you feel about everything."

"Look you want me to be honest? Okay then, yes Emily it hurt being railroaded by your mother at dinner. She made me feel like I was the smallest thing on the planet and then she told me about Brown when it should have been you which made me feel even smaller. But I believe that you were going to tell me, I know it couldn't have been an easy subject to bring up so it really wouldn't be fair to be angry with you for it, the situation sucks Emily, but it doesn't change the way I feel about you, we'll figure something out okay?" Naomi brings her free hand up to cup Emily's cheek, tilting her head up again when it started to drop.

"When did you get so mature," Emily says through sniffles, Naomi's fingers quickly catching the few stray tears that had managed to spill out," Everything is going to be okay right?"

Emily looked so unsure of herself that Naomi couldn't help but want to be a little stronger for her, even though there was a nagging sense of doom clouding the back of her mind, reminding her that fairytales aren't real and that just because two people are meant for each other doesn't always mean they end up together.

"Everything is going to be fine," Naomi says with as much conviction as she can muster, pulling Emily towards her and allowing her girlfriend to bury her face in her neck.

It was amazing how all Naomi's lingering doubts and fears could disappear when she was holding Emily, it was like when the smaller girl was in her arms she had the ability to block out everything else in the world and allow them to just exist for a bit. And right now holding Emily close Naomi actually started to believe that maybe everything really would be alright after all.


	8. We both go down together

**A/N Well a little fast than last time yeah? Just a warning it gets a bitty smutty at the end so avert your eyes if this offends lol. I went back and forth a billion times about how I wanted to have this end up because I know how it happens in the notebook but i've changed it a bit and I hope it still works alright? Anyways enjoy and drop me a review and tell me what you thought if you want. Just one more chapter left of the summer and then we're jumping forward in time so strap in kids!**

* * *

We Both go Down together

Things change after the family dinner despite Naomi's best efforts not to let it. There's this new sense of desperation lacing every moment she spends with Emily that she just can't shake. The end is near; Naomi knows it no matter what she might say to Emily about the subject. The truth was clear, Emily would be leaving at the end of the summer and Naomi would be staying here, it just didn't seem logical that it would work. She knows that Emily would want to try long distance but Naomi isn't sure she can go from having Emily with her basically all the time back to a life without her, only worse because she would be haunted with what her and Emily used to be. She didn't want to stretch it out because she's selfish and then end up having things end badly, Emily didn't deserve that, Emily deserved to go off to University guilt free and have the experience of a life time without having to worry about a girlfriend back in California.

Naomi sighs in frustration, tossing aside the book she had been making an attempt to read until she realized she had read the same paragraph fifteen times and still hadn't absorbed any of the information. She reaches over and picks up a picture off her bedside table. just a simple one of her and Emily from the night they hiked to a deserted beach and camped for the night with Cook and Effy. It was one of her fondest memories from the summer she thinks, something about waking up with Emily curled into her while the sun beat down on them creating a nice warm bubble, it was a moment that Naomi wrapped up and tucked away just for herself.

Her heart breaks a little when she thinks about Cook and Effy who had decided to end things a few days before when Effy had told him that she would be without a doubt flying back to England at the end of the summer. Despite handling it maturely Naomi saw the toll the breakup had taken on her best friend, he had basically been moping around for the past few days. She had never seen him like this about anyone else, in fact Naomi can't remember a time that Cook had even been remotely upset about ending it with someone, though he had never stayed with anyone long enough to become attached until now. It was strange to think how alike her and Cook really were, both free spirits that didn't want to settle down, and how quickly the appearance of two beautiful English women could turn them on their heads.

"Fucks sake," Naomi whispers under her breath as she gets up and grabs a coat off the back of her desk chair.

_Enough of this moping around _Naomi thought, the situation made her feel completely helpless but seeing as there was nothing she could do about it the only sensible option would be to spend as much time with Emily as she could in the little time they had left.

She's about to flip open her phone and call Emily and let her know she was on her way over when she notices a figure walking swiftly up the path towards the house. It only takes a few seconds for Naomi to recognize that it's Emily, and she's walking towards her with a look of determination on her face that Naomi's never seen her wear before.

"Em?" Naomi begins but is cut off sharply when kisses her urgently, pushing her back into the door behind her.

It takes her a minute to respond, being so caught off guard with the intensity and desperation that she could feel passing from Emily's lips to hers as Emily presses their mouths together so tightly. Emily has never kissed her like this before, with such a strong feeling of need behind it that it stuns Naomi for a second before she wakes up and realizes that maybe she should participate so it isn't like she's just standing there being kissed.

Once Naomi seems to have gotten control of her limbs back she brings one had up and threads it through Emily's hair, effectively pushing their lips harder together and causing Emily to groan somewhere in the back of her throat when the kiss deepens impossibly further. And something in Naomi snaps then, all the control she had been attempting to maintain over her body since she started seeing Emily goes all out the window in this moment. It's like her body's on auto pilot as she spins them around, reversing their positions and pinning Emily to the door where she had previously been. She drifts her kisses down across Emily's cheek and jaw until she reaches her destination on her neck, pushing Emily further into the door and sucking insistently on Emily's pulse point.

Emily tilts her head back in encouragement, giving Naomi more room as her eyes slip shut and she feels like her body is burning up. She presses her hand at the back of Naomi's neck pulling Naomi closer, her eyes rolling back into her head when Naomi trails her way up to her ear and begins nipping lightly at her earlobe. When Naomi slips a leg between hers and presses up Emily's eyes shoot open again, and she can't help but press down against it needing some sort of relief of all the feelings that Naomi was evoking in her.

"Fuck," She gasps huskily as Naomi continues her assault on her neck, Naomi's hands sliding up from her waist and coming to rest hesitantly on her breasts. Not really doing much, just resting there, testing Emily.

Naomi pulls away after a few more seconds, her hands moving to the door behind Emily as if to hold herself up as she rests her head on Emily's shoulder. And Emily is both relieved and irritated at the same time that Naomi pulled away, because fucking hell was she enjoying herself and now she was left feeling cold and wanting nothing more than Naomi's hands and lips on her again spreading fire through her body. But on the other hand did she really want Naomi to fuck her, their first time together (Emily's first time period), up against the front door of Naomi's house when Gina and plenty of other lodgers would be on the other side? That she didn't want, but at the rate Naomi had her going Emily was pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to muster the resolve to stop Naomi ministrations.

"I'm sorry," Naomi whispers shakily into the skin of Emily's shoulder.

And Emily's confused because it wasn't as if she was an unwilling participant, in fact she had been the one to storm up to Naomi and start the entire thing anyways. She unleashed something inside her girlfriend though, something Naomi had obviously been holding back in an attempt to not make her feel pressured, can't help but wonder how long Naomi has wanted to do this.

"I just can't control myself around you sometimes," Naomi laughs hesitantly, hoping she hasn't taken things to far and scared Emily off.

She pulls her head up off of Emily's shoulder to look her in the eye and is surprised to find Emily looking at her with a lopsided adoring smile. Naomi's eyes widen further when Emily takes a hold of her hands and presses them back against her chest, a little harder this time so Naomi is actually cupping her breasts.

"Its okay," Emily says, fighting the urge to close her eyes as Naomi kneads her breasts softly, because _fuck _it feels better than she imagined it would.

"I want to show you something," Naomi says suddenly, her hands dropping away from Emily's body to take her hands," Will you come with me?"

Emily doesn't think twice, doesn't need to; she just knows she'd follow Naomi anywhere if she asked her to.

The car takes a turn off the highway that Emily doesn't recognize, heading down a winding gravel road through a wooded area and if Emily was with any one but Naomi she would be wondering if she was being taken off into the woods to be killed. But eventually they break through the bush and emerge into a large clearing with a large, yet rather run down house in the middle of it. Emily sneaks a glance over at Naomi, and she's staring at the old house with such adoration that Emily knows it must mean a lot to her. Naomi puts the car in park and slips out of the car, grabbing a flannel blanket out of the back seat and taking Emily's hand leads them towards the house.

"You can't see it right now but there's a pristine beach down there," Naomi says, pointing in the darkness," Like pretty much untouched, its beautiful."

"We'll have to come back some time when it's light out," Emily replies giving Naomi's hand a squeeze, feeling her heart clench when Naomi smiles so sadly back at her.

"Come on then," Naomi starts walking again leading Emily around the back of the house.

"You have a key right? Because I don't know what my parents would think about you getting me into illegal activities," Emily says, the grin she's wearing undermining the seriousness of her statement.

"Well considering I plan to own this some day soon I wouldn't really call it breaking and entering," Naomi points out, reaching her hand around through a crack in the window and switching the lock on the inside of the door," Its more like previewing my merchandise."

Naomi opens the door and gestures for Emily to walk inside, its slightly terrifying actually showing Emily this place. It has so much to do with her past and her father and her dreams for the future, the truth was she hadn't even told her mom that she would still come here from time to time. It was a place for just her, a place where she could come and think, and remember better times, and plan a future.

Emily wanders around the dusty interior, actually quite impressed at how well the structure held up when the outside looked like it was about to topple any moment. She looks over at Naomi curiously, waiting for her to explain why she brought them here.

"This house was built sometime in the twenty's, a movie star was planning to spend her summers here but she died before she got the chance to even spend one. So the house has been sitting here vacant ever since," Naomi explains," Its kind of a myth in this town that the house is haunted, which is probably why no one ever bothered to buy the property, because with a bit of work it could be gorgeous up here."

"A bit of work?" Emily says, gesturing to the staircase that was caving in.

"Okay a lot of work," Naomi relents, closing the distance between her and Emily and wrapping her arms around Emily from the back," And someone who has the patience to do it, to make it as beautiful as it once was."

"Mmm I bet it was lovely in its day," Emily agrees, nuzzling back into Naomi's form.

Naomi untangles herself from Emily, who for a moment grumbles until Naomi tugs on her hand and pulls her down so their sitting on the blanket she brought. Naomi lies down, flat on her back and waits for Emily to follow her.

"Me and my dad used to come here when I was a kid," Naomi finally explains," He had this plan that he was going to buy this house, and fix it up and we would move in here. It was prime location really, far enough out of town so we could be slightly secluded, but still close enough to the marina. We used to come up here and lay like we're doing right now and talk about what we wanted to do with the house, like stupid stuff like what would go where and what color the rooms should be."

Naomi glances over at Emily, sees her looking back and listening intently. Can see the happiness and pride in her eyes at the thought that Naomi was finally opening up to her completely.

"He never bought it?" Emily asks, feeling that Naomi needed a small nudge to continue.

"No," Naomi shakes her head," He had the papers all drawn up and everything right before everything went south but he never bought it. Not that it would have mattered since the bank would have repossessed it anyways if he had."

"You still come here though?" Emily says

"Ya," Naomi replies," Its nice to come here and remember the happy times we had together, I don't remember a lot from before her left but my memories of us here are so vivid. And I was thinking that maybe one day I'd buy this place and fix it up myself, you know finish what he couldn't."

Emily opens her arm and gestures for Naomi to slide closer, Naomi instantly obliges, resting her head on Emily's shoulder as the redheads arm comes up and wraps around her waist snugly.

"That's a lovely dream," Emily agrees," See you do think about the future even if you think you don't."

"I guess I do," Naomi concedes, her tone light now as she props herself up a bit and kisses Emily once chastely," I think about it a lot actually, like I'd open up the staircase so it was twice as wide, and I'd have that room out in the front as the sitting room, and I'd want a huge kitchen, with a big dining room as well. After years of sharing small spaces with lots of people at my moms it'll be nice to have a lot of room to spare."

"Don't I get a say in all this?" Emily grins as Naomi tips her head up so her chin is resting on Emily's shoulder, allowing her to look at Emily properly.

"Do you want a say in this?" Naomi says seriously and Emily almost melts under the intensity of her stare.

"Of course I do," she answers just as seriously.

"Okay what do you want then?" Naomi says.

Emily closes her eyes a minute, trying to envision her and Naomi living in this house when they're older, trying to picture what it would look like.

"I'd like a wrap around front porch, you know so we could sit outside, and a room overlooking the water where I could paint,"

"Done," Naomi grins," Anything else?"

"Okay this is going to sound silly but I always loved the first house my family lived in before we made our money. It wasn't big or anything, just small and homey you know," Naomi nods in understanding," But it was white and had blue shutters on the windows, and for some reason when I think about "home" that's the image that comes to mind."

"Well I want you to think of our house as a home so white paint and blue shutters it is," Naomi giggles, scattering kisses along the length of Emily's neck.

And Emily isn't sure what makes her decide, she isn't sure if it's the fact that she can literally feel that all Naomi's walls are finally down, or that she's completely swooning over the way Naomi is talking so freely about their future together, or maybe it's just the feeling of Naomi's lips on her neck again but she can't hold it in anymore.

"Make love to me," Emily whispers breathily, smiling to herself when Naomi stiffens next to her and pulls back slightly.

"What?" Naomi says, studying Emily's face for any sort of hint that this might not be what she really wants.

"I said make love to me Naomi," Emily says with a little more confidence, reaching up and brushing Naomi's fallen hair behind her ear," I want you to."

"Here?" Naomi asks, looking around at the dusty old house they were currently laying in the middle of.

"I can't think of any place that would be better than our future home together," Emily replies cheekily, finally managing to get a smile from Naomi.

Naomi pulls herself up a little more, sliding her self over until she's lying on top of Emily properly. She leans down and kisses her softly as she lowers her body slowly on top of Emily.

Its so different the feeling she has right now, the feeling that she wants to go slow and savor every moment of this. All the other times she slept with girls, well with anyone really it had just been about getting off, about relieving a pressure and then once it was over she just wanted to get dressed and leave. But this was different, she didn't want to just rip off Emily's clothes and fuck her, she wanted to make love to her. _Finally _she thinks, finally she understands what people were talking about when they put sex up on such a pedestal, its about caring about someone and wanting to share the most intimate thing possible with them.

She pulls back slightly, smiling into the kiss when Emily tries for a moment to follow her but eventually relents and lays back down on the blanket, her eyes hooded and her breathing shallow. Naomi begins to shakily undo the buttons of Emily's shirt, her eyes following her hands as they unveil more of Emily's skin until she reaches the last one. She splays her hands out on Emily's bare stomach and pushes them apart, trailing her fingers across Emily's skin as she slides the shirt open. Its fascinating how Emily's body reacts to such a simple touch, how her skin breaks out in goose bumps in the wake of the trail her fingers traveled, Naomi wonders why she never took the time to notice before.

Once the shirt is open as far as it will go Naomi leans down again, pressing all her weight back onto her girlfriend, her thigh finding its way between Emily's and pressing up just to provide a constant pressure as her lips scatter kisses all over Emily's chest and neck. She feels Emily push up against her suddenly and she thinks that maybe she's been a bit too forward but quickly dispels the thought as she watches Emily shrug off her shirt with a small smile.

Once Emily has her shirt off she tugs on Naomi's tee shirt until their lips are back together and Naomi kisses her a little harder now, slipping her tongue into her mouth and sliding her hand down to cup her bra clad chest. Naomi feels the sharp breath that Emily takes and presses her hand a little harder against her, stroking her nipple through the fabric until she gets the same reaction again. She feels Emily sliding her hands up her back underneath her shirt and takes it as an invitation to take it off. Sits up straddling Emily's hips and slowly strips the shirt off over her head, giggling slightly when Emily's eyes widen and zone in on her chest because really could she be any more gay, how she managed to throw her parents off the trail so long was beyond Naomi.

Emily brought her hands up slowly over Naomi's torso, sliding one hand up the valley of her breasts and resting it above her heart. She could feel it thundering beneath her hand and it told her everything Naomi wasn't able to say with words, it gave her the reassurance that she was making the right decision, that Naomi was the one that she wanted to be her first. She sat up quickly, feeling the extreme desire to kiss Naomi again and wanting to take some form of control over the situation, not wanting to just lay there and have Naomi think she was completely useless at this. When their lips connect again she pulls on Naomi's hips, pulling her flush against her body before sliding her hands up Naomi's back and resting on the clasp of her bra. Emily's never undone one from this way around, but she figures that it can't be too difficult so she goes for it, and after much less fumbling than she had anticipated the clasp comes undone and Naomi pulls back pining her with a surprised look. And Emily can't help but laugh at the situation, because the idea of her shocking Naomi with something in this area was a bit ridiculous.

"Eager?" Naomi bites her lip, and Emily can't help but kiss her again because she looks so fucking sexy doing that.

Naomi pulls back again after a minute, untangling her hands from Emily's hair to pull her bra slowly off her body and toss it aside. And Emily's sure she's got her mouth hanging open but she can't help it, Naomi is just so gorgeous. She knew Naomi was beautiful, but there was just something about the way she looked in the darkness, the moonlight shining in through the window and casting over her perfect skin, it was like something she couldn't even imagine.

"Can I?" Naomi says softly, her hands hovering over the clasp of Emily's bra.

Emily feels her heart melt and a flush take over her body at the care and love in Naomi's voice.

"Please," Emily nods and feels Naomi's practiced fingers flick the clasp open and before she knows it the bra has been pulled from her body and Naomi is pushing her down onto the blanket again.

She doesn't waste any time bringing her mouth down onto Emily's breasts, cupping one with her hand and swirling her tongue around the nipple of the other. And Emily is so responsive that it spurs her on, the way her back is arching and her breathing is heavy like this is the best thing in the world, and Naomi thinks that maybe it is. She turns her attention back and forth between Emily's breasts until she's satisfied with the desperate state she's worked her girlfriend into, feeling her hips rolling unconsciously in search of some friction and her hands pushing Naomi's head as close to her body as possible. When Naomi starts trailing her lips further down Emily's torso Emily wriggles even harder, her stomach muscles tensing under Naomi's lips and when she reaches the band of Emily's shorts Naomi chances a look up at her. It shocks Naomi how Emily can look so innocent and sexy at the same time, its like nothing she's ever seen before.

"What?" Emily says shakily when she notices Naomi staring at her, feeling slightly uncomfortable being almost completely naked under Naomi's stare.

"Nothing, Its just you're…fuck you're so stunning Emily," Naomi whispers into the skin of Emily's stomach as she scatters kisses all over it," You take my breath away."

The button on Emily's shorts pops open quickly and Naomi tugs them down her legs before quickly clambering back on top of her, missing the contact immediately. She can feel that this is right now, can literally feel it as she presses her bare thigh into Emily's centre, can feel how much Emily wants this.

Emily rolls her over moments later, not breaking their kiss. And Naomi's so caught up in the feeling of kissing Emily that she barely notices the change of position until her back hits the floor and Emily's thigh presses up into her now.

"Oh," Naomi groans against Emily's lips causing her girlfriend to pull back and watch her in wonder, because quite frankly Emily has no idea what she's doing and the fact that this might be doing something for Naomi baffles her.

"Yeah?" Emily whispers into the skin of Naomi's neck, wanting, no _needing _to know what Naomi was feeling.

"Yeah," Naomi says breathily," _fuck _yeah," she continues when Emily hesitantly at first, turns her attention to Naomi's breasts.

Emily's dreamt about this moment for months, well if she's being honest with herself since the first moment she laid eyes on Naomi at that carnival. She's imagined how Naomi's breasts would look, how they would feel in her hand, how it would feel to kiss them, but nothing could compare to the actual thing she's realizing now. She kneads them softly and hesitatingly a few times before leaning down slowly and caressing Naomi's nipple with her tongue, feeling it harden impossibly further as Naomi arches her back pushing herself further up into Emily's waiting mouth. Emily tries to remember what Naomi had done to her only moments before, remembering how fucking amazing it had felt but gives up after a few minutes and settles on alternating between circling with her tongue and sucking gently, occasionally looking up to gage from Naomi's facial expression whether what she was doing was working or not.

Naomi couldn't explain what it felt like, it was so different to anything she had ever experienced before. Everything was so _heavy_ and Emily whether she knew it or not was making her wetter than she had ever been in her life. It was causing all these feelings to well up inside her, like she was about to burst with all the things she wanted to say but never had the courage to come out with. It had to stop, before she blurted out something she wasn't even sure if Emily was ready to hear. So she pulls Emily back up to her mouth, kissing her as deep as she can muster as she flips them over once again. Keeps kissing Emily as she allows her hand to slowly drift its way down her body, trailing over Emily's breasts, raking lightly over her ribs, down her legs and then back up her inner thighs until her hand was hovering over Emily's underwear.

Naomi pulls back and watch's Emily's face as she dips her hand past the waistband cupping Emily gently. Watch's Emily's eyes widen slightly and then crunch shut just as quickly when she finds Emily's clit and begins slowly circling it with her index finger, allowing her fingers to drift down slightly every now and then to gather Emily's wetness (which there was a ridiculously large amount of) before resuming her motions on her clit.

"Christ," Emily breathes out softly as Naomi speeds up her fingers slightly, allowing two of them to press against her clit now rather than one.

She finds her hips bucking involuntarily up into Naomi's hand, her back arching of its own will into Naomi's mouth, which had descended back onto her tits. And its all well and lovely and well better than anything she's ever felt before actually but she can tell Naomi is still holding back. Emily can feel it in the way her whole body is tensed up, like she's trying desperately not to give in completely and Emily doesn't want it to be like that. She wants to give herself over to Naomi in every way possible, so she slides one of her hands off of Naomi's back down between their body's, grasping Naomi's wrist and pushing her hand down further so their joined hands are pressing slightly against her entrance.

Naomi's eye's snap up to meet Emily's then, still slightly dazed from losing herself in touching Emily so freely but still understanding what Emily was asking for.

"Emily," Naomi says somewhat warningly, she's worried that she wont be able to control herself if she goes inside Emily. She was constantly reminding herself to take it slow as it was and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt Emily.

"Please," Emily whispers, lifting her head slightly to give Naomi a reassuring kiss and allowing her hand that was gripping Naomi's wrist to slowly pull her underwear down far enough for her to wriggle out of them completely.

"I don't want to hurt you," Naomi admits, her voice shaky as Emily continues to look at her through pleading eyes.

"You wont," Emily assures her," I trust you Naomi…more than anyone."

Its enough for Naomi then, she kisses Emily slowly as she presses a finger cautiously inside of her. Emily's walls clench instantly against the intrusion.

"I'm sorry," Naomi whispers into Emily's ear as she holds her hand still, allowing Emily to get used to the feeling.

She begins moving slowly moments later, feeling reassured when Emily's hips began to lift slightly to meet her gentle thrusts. Naomi curls her finger up slightly, knowing she's hit the right spot when Emily lets out a low groan and digs her fingernails deeper into her back.

Emily's about to voice her feelings when Naomi pulls out slightly and enters her again only with two fingers this time. And ya it hurts a little at first, but Naomi's being so caring and gentle that the slight pain only lasts for a moment before it feels all kinds of wonderful again. It doesn't take long then, the combination of Naomi's fingers thrusting and curling, her thumb pressing insistently against Emily's clit and her lips on Emily's neck is enough to send Emily flying over the edge into the most intense thing she's ever felt. She's not sure what her body's doing or what noises she's making, all she's aware of is Naomi, pulling Naomi close as possibly, feeling Naomi against her.

Naomi brings her back down with gentle strokes, pressing kisses on Emily's shoulder as she finally slips her fingers out, cringing to herself when Emily hisses quietly. She wipes her fingers on the edge of the blanket and pulls back slightly, resting on her elbows to look at Emily, waiting for her eyes to open again.

"Was that okay?" Naomi asks timidly, brushing Emily's fringe out of her eyes.

"That was more than okay," Emily replies breathily with a lazy smile.

And it was the truth because Emily had never felt anything like that before in her life, getting yourself off just really didn't compare she now realized.

"Good," Naomi grins sheepishly.

"Come here," Emily says, wanting to kiss the self-satisfied grin off of Naomi's face.

As Naomi kisses her again Emily pushes her weight up and manages to pin Naomi back down onto the blanket. She allows her hands to travel down Naomi's body slowly as they kiss, touching every inch of skin she could reach until she makes it to the hem of Naomi's shorts. Her fingers fumble with the button as Naomi pulls back from the kiss to look at her. Naomi's eyes are dark with desire but also telling her that it's okay if she doesn't want to do this, if she's not ready. Emily kisses her again quickly before sliding down her body to slowly remove Naomi's last items of clothing, sitting back and taking the sight before her in for a moment before she crawls back up Naomi's body and brings their lips together again.

And Emily knows Naomi must be just dying at this point, can tell by the way she's pressing herself down onto her thigh pretty roughly. She wants to make Naomi feel at least some fragment of what Naomi had just made her feel but her nerves were getting the best of her, Naomi had been with lots of girls how was she going to come even close to comparing?

"What are you thinking?" Emily pulls back and asks, the word vomit forcing its way out of her mouth before she can stop it.

"Huh?" Naomi asks, her eyes cloudy with lust.

"Never mind," Emily tries to force her nerves down and kisses Naomi again for a minute before her nerves start turning to irritation that Naomi doesn't seem to be even thinking anything about what had just happened between them," You're not thinking anything right now?"

"What are you talking about," Naomi says breathily, her arms reaching around Emily's back to try and pull her closer again but feeling her girlfriend resist.

"I'm thinking a billion things right now, but with you Naomi everything is just fine? I don't get it," Emily says.

Naomi sighs, doesn't mean too but she's frustrated, Emily's worked her up so much and now she wants to have a conversation?

"Its okay," Naomi says softly as she slides Emily off of her and sits up, taking part of the blanket with her to cover her body.

_fuck_ Emily thinks as she lays there staring at Naomi, her head resting against her arms that were curled around her legs as she tried to steady her breathing and calm herself down.

"I'm sorry," Emily sits up quickly, wrapping her arms around Naomi's waist and resting her head on Naomi's shoulder," I didn't mean to let my brain take over and screw everything up, when i'm nervous I babble, you know this."

"I'm not angry," Naomi says seriously, pressing a kiss to the side of Emily's head for emphasis.

And now Emily really feels like a bitch, seeing as she's gotten off quite nicely and she's left Naomi hanging, and now she's being sweet about the whole thing as well. She goes to speak but is caught of guard when Naomi says something she hadn't expected to hear but has been dreaming about for months.

"You know I love you right?" Naomi says, turning her head to meet Emily's eyes properly.

Emily sucks in a deep breath before her face breaks into a bright smile as she stares at Naomi in wonder. She gets it now, gets how it's the best feeling in the world when you love someone and you find out that they love you back just as much.

"I know," Emily breathes out, her hand finding its way to Naomi's cheek," I love you too."

She watches Naomi's eyes soften even further as she smiles back at Emily. Emily slides her hand into Naomi's hair and brings their lips back together, has all intentions of pushing Naomi back down onto the blanket and showing her how much she loves her when Cook bursts through the door.

"Naomi," he shouts, not immediately seeing them on the floor, giving Naomi enough time to pull the blanket up around them fully, using her own body to shield Emily's further.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Naomi growls at the intrusion on her and Emily's moment.

"You have to get Emily home," Cook demands," Effy just called and said Mr and Mrs Fitch are freaking out, they've called the cops."

"What?" Emily says

"I don't know, you just need to get home," Cook explains," I'll call Effy and let her know I've found you."

And with that he turns and heads back out of the house leaving Naomi and Emily alone again and before Naomi can even say anything Emily is already getting redressed.

"We've got to go, you have no idea how they can be Naoms," Emily says sadly and Naomi nods and begins getting redressed herself.

They spend the drive back to the Fitches in complete silence; Naomi just doesn't know what to say. She grabs Emily's hand and squeezes it gently regardless, needing to be the strong one for Emily who looked a mixture between angry and horrified at the same time.

"It'll be fine," Naomi whispers, looks over to see Emily nod slightly at her, smiling but it not quite reaching her eyes.

And Naomi wondered to herself who she was really trying to convince.


	9. This Love will be your downfall

**Hey guys! Its been forever and I honestly have no excuse other than I just haven't been able to sit down and write for some reason. I had half of this chapter finished for the longest time and was struggling to finish it up but then I got a review today asking me nicely to finish it and I was so surprised that people actually still cared about this story that I forced myself to sit down and finish it. So this one goes out to you countrybella, I know it might seem a bit rushed but I was feeling rusty but I hope you enjoy it anyways :)**

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**This Love(will be your downfall)**

Naomi sees the flicker of police lights as she drives through the gates and up the drive towards the Fitch house. She watches as Emily's eyes widen at the sight of the two police cars parked outside of her house. Was there really not something more important going on that would require police attention rather than her breaking her curfew? It was so frustrating that she barely could wait for Naomi to put the car into park before she was out and running up the steps towards the door, Naomi hot on her heels.

"Thank god you're alright," her father says as she swings the door open.

"Where in the world have you been?" her mother pipes up, stepping forward and taking in her appearance.

Jenna's hands unconsciously balled into fists as she took in Emily's smeared lipstick and messy hair, her fingernails digging painfully into her palms when she noticed one of the buttons on her shirt wasn't done up.

"You called the police?" Emily exclaims, gesturing wildly around the room at the few policemen still lingering.

"Its 2 in the morning and we had no idea where you were," Rob says calmly, sensing Jenna's rage about to boil over and trying to diffuse the situation before it turned into more of a scene than it already was.

"It was all my fault," Naomi speaks up for the first time since stepping inside the house, Jenna's eyes narrow in on her and she finds it hard to continue but can't stand the thought of Emily bearing the brunt of this by herself," I lost track of time, Emily didn't do anything wrong."

Emily shot her a look that Naomi caught out of the corner of her eye, a silent thank you for her speaking up for her.

"Naomi would you mind waiting here, we need to have a talk with our daughter," Rob asks, but Naomi knew it wasn't really a question, it was more of a demand so she nods lamely running her hands through her hair in frustration.

"Now Emily," Jenna says sternly when Emily doesn't make any movement towards the other room.

So with a grunt she follows her mother into the other room, looking over her shoulder once at Naomi for some reassurance that they were okay, receiving a small hesitant nod in return she shut the door behind her.

"It really wasn't Emily's fault Mr Fitch, it was all me," Naomi tries again, thinking that maybe if she just took the blame everything would be able to just go back to normal because in reality Emily's parents never really liked her anyways so it really wouldn't make that much of a difference.

Rob doesn't reply, just nods curtly at Naomi, says a quick goodnight to the couple police offers still hanging around and follows the same path his daughter and wife had just gone moments before and soon enough Naomi is left alone. She rubs her hands over her tired eyes trying to figure out how things could go from so perfect to so miserable in less than an hour. Its kind of ironic really that the night that both her and Emily give everything over to each other turns out to be the night that everything seems so hopeless.

"You guys have really fucked it up this time haven't you?" Naomi hears a familiar voice floating down the stairs.

Her eyes snap up and she sees Effy standing there smirking at her in that irritating way that she always does. Naomi can't help but notice she looks a little worse for the wear, not sporting her usual eye makeup and wearing a flannel shirt and a pair of loose jeans rather than her normal tee shirt dress and tights combination. Naomi wonders to herself if maybe Emily was exaggerating a little when she said Effy was doing fine after her breakup with Cook.

"I didn't know…we just you know lost track of time," Naomi mumbles," I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Effy replies, taking a seat next to Naomi on the sofa," It would have happened at some point regardless, they've been waiting for you to screw up some how so they could have a chance to do this."

Naomi closes her eyes and shakes her head, she knew she wasn't Emily's parent's favorite person she never thought the situation was that bad, in fact she had gotten on alright with Rob, or so she thought.

"You should have broken up like me and Cook," Effy says suddenly, immediately gaining all of Naomi's attention back," We could see it was leading to a big messy ending so we called it off before it exploded. But not you and Emily, you just had to hold on to it for dear life and now look at what's happening."

Naomi can't help but narrow her eyes at Effy, feeling a twinge of irritation work its way up into her body at the idea of Effy thinking she could just walk away from Emily like she meant nothing to her. And the thing was she knew Cook and Effy cared for each other, had dealt with a drunk and nearly crying Cook the night they broke up herself as proof so she didn't understand what Effy was going on about.

"I love Emily," Naomi says, the words coming out stronger than she thought they would," Do you really think I'd be able to just walk away from her like that?"

"Love fucks you up Naomi," Effy states plainly," Look where its gotten you? You're in a fucked up situation that has no chance of ending well or have you forgotten that Emily is moving across the country at the end of the summer?"

"So just because we don't know how it's going to end you say we should just say the hell with it and walk away?" Naomi asks.

"I just think that sometimes it's easier to have an ending like that, like with Cook. We had a great summer, and I'll always remember him but it was obvious that it wasn't going to work. So why torture ourselves by dragging it out until some big confrontation. Wouldn't you rather if you and Emily ended on good terms and she was able to go off to uni with good memories of her time with you?" Effy tries to explain herself," Wouldn't you rather to be able to look back years from now and smile at the thought of Emily rather than having a painful twisting in your gut about the whole thing?"

And Naomi gets what Effy's trying to say, gets the logic of it but her heart is just screaming at her head that it's the stupidest idea she's ever heard. Her and Emily were different weren't they? They weren't meant to just be a summer fling that Naomi would look back on fondly years from now when she was settled down with someone else. She didn't want to settle down with anyone else, right now at this moment she couldn't picture being with anyone but Emily, they had to be different, Naomi refused to accept any other explanation.

Naomi softened her eyes at Effy, realizing that the brunette was really only trying to help. Effy had actually become a good friend over summer, she never really got along with any girls in a friendship kind of way, well really she never really got along with anyone but Cook that way. But Effy and her were quite alike she had noticed, she was going to miss her when she left.

"I get what you're saying Ef," Naomi relents," But it's not the same with Emily and me. I've never felt like this before, never anything even close to this actually. I just can't let it go just like that you know? I have to fight for it, for her, I have to try at least."

Effy shakes her head, and Naomi sees understanding in her blue orbs, mixed with something she can't put her finger on until Effy looks up again and meets her gaze again. She can see it then clearly; pity radiating at her from Effy's steely gaze.

"I like you Naomi, I think you're really good for Emily. She loves you I know that much, I've never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at you," Effy says and Naomi can't help but smile a little, she can remember clearly Emily confessing her love earlier but it's still nice hearing it from someone else." But it's not enough Naomi, how can you not see that?"

"Why can't it be enough?" Naomi asks.

"Because you don't know Emily's family the way I do, you don't know how they operate. Do you really think Katie wanted to marry a football player who has barely enough brain power to function?" Effy elaborates," Her mum pressured her into it, made her leave a guy that she actually really cared about for Danny because he came with more prestige for the family image. They expect the same from Emily don't you see? I don't want to be the one to say it but in their eye's Naomi, you'll never be good enough for their daughter no matter what you do."

Effy's words made everything crash down around her, bringing back all the insecurities she felt her entire life, that she wasn't good enough, that she was going nowhere, that she wasn't ever going to make anything of herself, that she was destined to follow in her fathers footsteps and fuck everything up for everyone around her. Naomi felt tears sting at her eyes, blinked them back quickly and shook her head trying to forget everything that was rapidly running through her mind.

"I'm sorry Naomi," Effy says, leaning in and wrapping her arms hesitantly around Naomi's frame," I really am," she whispers in Naomi's ear before making her way back up the stairs and leaving Naomi alone with her thoughts.

"I can't believe you did this," Emily shouts, glaring at her mother who was pacing the room in front of the desk where he father was sitting," I'm not a child anymore, why can't you just accept that!"

Jenna stops pacing at this and turns to face her daughter, narrowing her eyes at her before turning her attention back to Rob.

"She is out fooling around with this girl until two in the morning and it has to stop!" Jenna growls, finally starting to lose her temper with the entire situation.

She had gone along with Rob's plan because she trusted him, trusted in his faith that this was just a summer fling and that Emily would have no problem tossing Naomi aside and going off to University. But she was no fool, she could see the look in her daughter's eyes, this was no fling and it needed to be stopped now.

"Oh please mum, have you forgotten who your other daughter is?" Emily fumes, sick and tired of the double standard that had always been there between her and Katie," Katie used to go off and not even come home, you wouldn't even know where she was! And I tell you where I'm going, you know I'm with my girlfriend and you call the fucking cops?"

"Emily do not speak to your mother that way," Rob says finally, watching both woman in a stand off ready to strike whenever necessary.

"Why not?" Emily says, trying to calm herself so her argument would come across rationally, but then again her mother never did listen to reason," She has no reason not to like Naomi, she hasn't done anything other than be a girl and lets be real that's what this is all about!"

"That is not what this is about," Jenna strikes back, her body stiffening when she notices Emily taking a challenging stance, ready with whatever comeback she had prepared to try and convince her father to side with her. But Jenna wasn't going to have it," Fine you want me to say it, you want me to be the bad guy fine! That girl is trash, she's trash, no good for you!"

She bangs her hand on the desk in front of her husband for emphasis, feeling the atmosphere in the room shifting once she voiced what her and Rob had always been thinking but didn't want to have to say.

"I love her," Emily shouts suddenly, tears springing to her eyes, pleading with her father to for once look past someone's social standing and see Naomi for the wonderful person she was.

"You're 17 Emily, you don't know what love is!" Jenna quickly counters, watching as Rob gets up from his chair and begins to pace the room.

"You can't tell me that," Emily sobs," You can't tell me who I can and can't love," she runs to her father and burry's her face in his chest mumbling, "I love her" over and over through her tears.

It was ripping Rob apart to see his daughter like this; he hated seeing Emily cry he especially didn't want to be the reason for her tears. But he knew on some level Jenna was right, they had spent their lives grooming their daughters for success, he wanted so much more for Emily than this town, than what Naomi was able to offer her. So he gently pulled Emily away from his chest and wiped her tears away with his thumbs, looking at her apologetically.

"She's just not suitable for you sweetheart," Rob says, the weight of his words coming down on Emily like blade, splitting her heart in two.

"No," Emily sobs, backing away from her father," I don't care what you say, I love Naomi, nothing is going to change that."

Its only then that she remembers that Naomi is sitting in the other room waiting for her, separated from them by only a thin wall and probably able to hear everything that has been said/screamed in the last twenty minutes. A pit begins to form in the her stomach at the thought of Naomi sitting there listening to her mother verbally tear her apart, she takes off out of the room instantly at the realization.

"_she's trash, trash, no good for you"_

"_she's just not suitable for you,"_

Naomi's hands were shaking against her knee's as she listened to the conversation taking place in the next room. The realization hit her like a bucket of ice-cold water, Effy was right, Emily's parents were never going to accept her no matter what she did.

"And why should they," Naomi mumbles under her breath as she rises from her seat and looks around the room one last time.

_Maybe they're right_ she thinks, it was no secret that her and Emily were from different worlds and maybe she was foolish to think that it would ever be able to work outside the bubble of this town. Emily was meant for great things, she was going to change the world someday and Naomi didn't know what her future held but she sure as hell knew she would never be able to provide for Emily the way she was accustomed to. Her heart sank with the weight of the situation she was stuck in now, but she knew what she had to do. She had to walk away no matter how much it would kill her to do it, it would be the best thing for Emily.

So she does, barely gets down the front steps before she hears Emily calling her name, wills herself to not turn around but she doesn't have the strength not to.

"Naomi," Emily shouts after her, taking off down over the steps until she catches up with the blonde who is slowly turning around," Where are you going?"

The last part comes out more like a sob, Emily's voice cracking at the end and Naomi lifts her eyes to meet Emily's, her stomach clenching at the sight of the tears cascading over her cheeks. Naomi can't physically resist the urge to comfort Emily, seeing her cry is far worse than any pain she's ever experienced in her life so she reaches forward pulling Emily into her arms.

"It's okay," Naomi says through gritted teeth, the lie having a hard time forcing its way out of her mouth," Please don't cry." Feels Emily burry her face further into her chest at her words, her sobs eventually slowing.

"They're so awful," Emily says finally, pulling back and allowing Naomi to brush the tears from her cheeks with her thumbs," But I don't care what they say, I'm going to be with you."

Naomi sees the fire in Emily's eyes that only pops up when she's really determined about something and Naomi knows that what she has to do next will be the hardest thing she'll ever have to do.

She lets her hands drop from Emily's face and link lightly with her hands instead, not quite able to let go completely yet. She looks into Emily's sad brown eyes and, swallows back the tears that are threatening to fall from her own.

"Maybe they're right," Naomi says, her voice weak, feels Emily grip her hands a little tighter in response as if she could sense Naomi was about to slip away.

"They're not Naoms, they're being ridiculous," Emily replies strongly, deciding that she isn't going to let Naomi destroy this without a fight.

"Emily I don't know much, but I do know that you're meant to go places. Your passion, it fucking rolls off you in waves, you're meant to be something, something great," Naomi starts," And me, well this is as good as it gets for me Emily, I'm never going to do great things, I'm never going to have nice things."

"I don't fucking care about that," Emily says, frustrated tears welling up in her eyes again.

"I do," Naomi shakes her head," You deserve someone that can take care of you Emily, not someone who's destined to be stuck in this shit hole town for the rest of their life."

"Shouldn't I get to decide who's good enough for me," Emily points out, her eyes pleading with Naomi to fight for them, to not just give up," And Its not the fifties Naomi, I don't need someone to take care of me! Why are you doing this, I love you, I want to be with you, no one else."

"Emily you're leaving in a couple weeks," Naomi replies, finally voicing the nagging thought that had been eating away at her since the ill fated dinner at the Fitch residence," I know we were trying to not let it feel like our relationship had a timer, but in reality it does because you're leaving and I'm staying here."

Emily's mind starts racing in desperation at Naomi's words, she had known this conversation was coming, she would have been stupid to think it wasn't but this isn't how she saw it happening. She saw her and Naomi sitting down and talking about it rationally not yelling at each other in her driveway and Naomi talking like they're already over before they've even figured anything out.

"I can stay here," Emily says desperately, willing to do anything at this point to wipe away the look of utter defeat that Naomi was wearing across her usually confident features.

"No you can't!" Naomi exclaims, irritated that Emily wasn't getting what she was trying to say, that instead she was offering to do exactly what Naomi didn't want for her," You aren't going to ruin your life on account of me."

"It wouldn't be ruining my life, we could be together," Emily argues

"Brown is your dream Em, you would just end up resenting me in the end if you stayed,"

"You could come with me." Emily offers, her hands letting go of Naomi's and making their way up to cup Naomi's face instead hoping to persuade her.

"To Providence?" Naomi asks redundantly," What am I going to do in Providence?"

"Be with me," Emily says weakly.

"Yeah," Naomi agrees, softening her voice slightly as her hands move to grip Emily's forearms," Look we don't have to decide all of this tonight."

Emily felt a twinge of irritation spark up in her suddenly at Naomi's words, couldn't believe that after all this Naomi was willing to just push everything under the rug again to be dealt with another day. Emily just couldn't take it anymore, she needed to know where her and Naomi stood, and she needed to know now.

"What does that mean?" Emily asks, her voice having a sharp edge to it.

"It means we'll finish up the summer and then see how it goes," Naomi offers lamely, wincing slightly at the angry look that was creeping onto Emily's face.

"Are you saying you want to break it off?" Emily says quietly, as if she's not really able to say the words

"I just don't see how it's going to work," Naomi replies lamely

"If you want to break up with me do it now, don't wait till the end of the summer," Emily raises her voice slightly and takes a step back from Naomi, creating a noticeable distance between them.

"Emily don't," Naomi sighs, she's tired and has a million things running through her head and the last thing she needs is to deal with Emily when she starts acting like an immature child.

"No you don't," Emily says, trying to keep control of her temper," If that's what all this is about then just fucking do it, don't wait a couple weeks on my behalf."

"I'll call you tomorrow," Naomi states with an air of finality that doesn't sit well with Emily.

So when she turns to get into her car Emily stops her, shuts the door before Naomi can get in and pins Naomi between her and the car door.

"Just fucking say the words," Emily shouts, all semblance of control was now gone out the window as she shoves Naomi repeatedly into the car door, the fact that the blonde wasn't fighting back only urging her on," Tell me you want to break up with me! Fine i'll say it, we're done! Let me guess you got tired of the nice safe little committed relationship? Or was it that you were just waiting to fuck me, and now that you have you can move on to the next slut? Wouldn't want to taint the Campbell track record now would I"

Emily regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, as soon as she saw the look of shock and disbelief on Naomi's face. She looked like someone had slapped her, and Emily had, well verbally anyways but Naomi knew that what Emily had said hurt far more than any physical blow she would have taken.

"I can't believe…" Naomi trails off, shaking her head and blinking back tears.

Naomi couldn't be here anymore, she couldn't fight with Emily anymore, she was exhausted. She couldn't believe that Emily would throw something like that back in her face so viciously when all she was trying to do was make things easier for Emily in the long run. To make it easier for her to go off to school and onto the next phase of her life without Naomi holding her back, no matter how much it was ripping Naomi's heart apart to do it.

So she turns away from a now crying Emily and gets into her car, she doesn't roll down the window when Emily bangs her fists against it but she can hear her clearly anyways.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," Emily cries, banging her open fist against the window," You don't really want to break up do you?" She continues, her voice getting more hysterical at each syllable," This is just another fight and we'll wake up tomorrow and everything will be fine."

But Naomi doesn't reply, she just starts the engine and takes off down the driveway, finally letting the tears overflow from her eyes. Leaving Emily standing there, her arms wrapped around herself for some form of comfort as she watches Naomi drive off for what might be the last time, she's never felt more alone or more helpless.

* * *

Naomi wipes furiously at her eyes as she puts her car into park, she doesn't even remember how she got here like her body just subconsciously took her to Cooks without her knowledge. She hovers around the door for a couple minutes before knocking, failing miserably at trying to pull herself together. She's never felt more vulnerable in her life but for the first time she can remember she doesn't want to deal with this on her own, maybe her mom was right and Emily really had changed her. But thinking about the redhead only causes a new onslaught of tears to being welling in her eyes so she swallows thickly and knocks on the door.

"Naomi!" Cook grins toothily at her as he opens the door, his face falling quickly when he takes in her appearance," Babe what's going on?"

Naomi shakes her head, unable to find the words at the moment. Cook simply pulls her towards him, wrapping her up as tight as he could feeling her shudder violently against him as she felt herself break down again.

It takes Naomi a good fifteen minutes before she's able to pull herself together again, Cook brings her inside and up to his room offering her a beer which Naomi thankfully accepts.

"So you gonna tell me what the hell is going on," Cook asks, genuinely worried now because he's never even seen Naomi cry not alone have a complete breakdown like that.

"Its Emily," Naomi says, taking a big gulp of her beer," We're done."

Cook shakes his head in disbelief, as far as he was concerned he couldn't think of two people that were better suited for each other than Naomi and Emily. They were one of the couples that were meant to make it, it was how it was supposed to be.

"What happened? If i remember correctly you guys were pretty loved up last time I saw you?" Cook says resisting the urge to make a pervy comment about what he walked in on earlier.

Naomi takes a deep breath, downing the rest of her beer. She places the empty on the desk and looks at Cook expectantly until he hands her another.

"We were, everything was pretty well damn near perfect and then we got back to her house. Her parents were pissed, I could hear them talking to her in the next room telling her that she wasn't able to see me anymore, that i wasn't suitable or in the words of her mother that I was trash," Naomi explains, tears welling up in her eyes again despite her best efforts.

"Naomi thats fucking ridiculous," Cooks points out.

"Its true though Cook can't you see?" Naomi says waving her hand to shush him when he went to protest," Emily is leaving, we were stupid to think we could ignore it. She's going to Brown to make something of herself and i'm staying here, it never would have worked. She deserves so much more than I can give her. It had to end, i just didn't think it would happen like this, I never thought she would say some of the things she said."

"What did she say?" Cook asks, his fist clenching tighter around his beer.

"She was so angry, i've never seen her like it before," Naomi recounts," She accused me of only caring about getting her into bed and then fucking off. But its not true, I fucking love Emily! I didn't want to break up, I was doing it for her why couldn't she see that."

"It'll be okay," Cook wraps his arm around Naomi's shoulder, smiling softly when she rests her head against his shoulder," Maybe it's for the best, you said yourself Emily's leaving soon and believe me i know it hurts like hell but we'll get you through this I promise."

Naomi nodsagainst his shoulder, praying that he was right but knowing deep down that Emily wasn't the girl that you just get over.

"But for tonight you're gonna sit here with me and drink away our worries," Cook smiled gently, pressing his lips against Naomi's forehead when she laughs softly," See there you go smiling already, I told you."

Naomi wraps her arms around him again whispering a soft "thank you" in his ear before he got up and grabbed them some more beers.

* * *

Emily stood in her driveway for a half hour, hands wrapped around herself before Effy finally came outside and dragged her back inside. She thought that maybe if she stood there waiting Naomi would turn around and come back, and see her waiting and everything would be okay again. She would get out of her car and run over, tell Emily that she loved her, kiss her and make everything normal again, but Naomi didn't come back and quite frankly Emily didn't blame her.

"Emily its going to be fine," Effy says, sitting down next to Emily who was staring aimlessly out her bedroom window.

"Its not going to be fine," Emily lets out a frustrated sigh," How did everything go from so perfect to utter shit in only a couple hours."

"Its life," Effy says stoically, but Emily isn't buying it, she knows that Effy is hurting just as much as she is.

"Don't pretend like nothing matters to you," Emily says," I know you're upset about everything with Cook, I know you know how I feel."

Effy shakes her head and places her hand on top of Emily's.

"I was never in love with Cook the way you are with Naomi, so I have no idea how you're feeling really," Effy points out,"but you do know she was only doing it for your own good right, she didn't want to break up with you she just wanted you to be able to have the life that you always wanted without her holding you back."

"I'm so fucking tired of everyone telling me what I should want out of life, shouldn't I get a say in what's "good enough for me"," Emily spits.

"Well just talk to her tomorrow and explain that to her," Effy offers lamely, but knowing inside that the damage had already been done.

Emily lets her head drop, she couldn't feel any worse about the things she had said to Naomi earlier, she was pretty sure the look on Naomi's face after she threw her past back at her would be imprinted in her mind forever.

"You didn't hear the things i said to her Ef," Emily sobs, wiping at her eyes," I basically accused her of not caring about me, that she was only with me to get in my pants and now that she had she was done with me. She looked so hurt, I can't believe I was the cause of that look on her face, I can't believe I told her we were done, I was just so angry that she wasn't listening to me."

"Naomi loves you Emily, she'd forgive you anything i'm sure of it," Effy explains," you just need to figure out what you really want. Can you honestly tell me that when you look into your future five or ten years down the road you still see Naomi?"

"Yes," Emily answers instantly, barely even giving it a second thought.

"Then you know what you have to do, go find her tomorrow and work it out, no yelling just a sensible conversation. I'm sure you guys can work something out, it might take a little work but if it's what you really want you can fix it, i'm sure of it." Effy says confidently.

"You're right, we're not out of time yet. I can still fix this," Emily says more so to herself than to Effy.

"Get some sleep Em, you look exhausted," Effy gets up and gives Emily one final nod before leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Emily crawls in her bed, not even bothering to change or wash her face. Effy was right, she was exhausted, she felt like she hadn't slept in days. She closes her eyes and tries not to think about Naomi, just wanting to fall asleep so the morning would come faster.

When she wakes up its to the sound of someone rummaging through her dresser drawers, she opens her tear stained eyes slowly only to see her mother violently throwing piles of clothes into a suitcase that she had sitting open on the floor. Emily throws the covers off herself and is out of bed in an instant, standing between her mother and the suitcase she gives her a questioning look.

"What are you doing?" Emily asks, glaring at her mother through swollen eyes.

"You're packing, we're leaving for Providence today," Jenna replies simply and continues digging through the dresser.

"What are you talking about, we aren't leaving for another week and a half," Emily exclaims.

"Things have changed, we're leaving today. You're father has arranged for the movers to come tomorrow and take anything we can't bring with us today," Jenna says, her voice challenging Emily to disagree.

"You can't do this mum," Emily cries," Do you hate me this much?"

Jenna stops in her tracks at this, turns towards her daughter and places her hands on her shoulders, forcing Emily to pay attention to what she's about to say.

"Im doing this because I love you," Jenna says," Its for your own good, you might not see it now but you will one day Emily."

Emily shakes off her mother's hands and takes a step backwards, tears welling up in her eyes for what felt like the millionth time in the past 24 hours.

"I will never see it mum," Emily says quietly

"We're leaving Emily, and there's nothing you can do about it," Jenna says with an air of finality, ignoring the way Emily's face falls even further at her words.

Emily doesn't say anything, she just turns and takes off down the stairs at a full run, ignoring the calls of her mother and father as she bolts out the front door. She grabs her bike from the side of the porch and pedals as fast as she can to Naomi's. There was no way she was going to let her parents get away with this, she wouldn't let them ruin her life the way they did to Katie. She had found the one for her, and she might only be 17 but she knew what love was and there was no way she was about to let it go without a fight. But Naomi isn't home, Gina explains that she picked up an extra shift for the day so without a good bye Emily heads off for the marina. When she reaches the parking lot she jumps off her bike, letting it sit against the fence where it fell and runs down to the dock, her eyes scanning her surroundings frantically for blonde hair.

"Emily?" she hears a familiar voice calling from behind her.

"Cook," Emily sighs in relief," Where's Naomi?"

"She's out with a group right now," Cook says," What's wrong?" he continues sensing her distress.

"Im leaving," Emily says

"What? When?"

"Today, like now," Emily says desperately," Look I need you to tell Naomi something for me, I need you to tell her that I love her and that I'm sorry."

Cook shakes his head, his face softening slightly at Emily's desperate tone.

"I don't know Em," Cook says," I think its over, she came to see me last night, i've never seen her like that in my life."

"Its not over," Emily exclaims defiantly," We just had a fight, we said things that we didn't mean."

"Emily just go, don't make it any harder than it already is," Cook tries

Emily goes to argue further when she hears a horn honking behind them, hears her mothers voice yelling her name and turns to find her parents sitting in their car staring at her expectantly. She wants to tell them to fuck off, wants to wait for Naomi and talk to her before she leaves but she knows she doesn't have a choice. Her father would throw her over his shoulder and carry her out of here if he had to so Cook is her only option at the moment.

"Cook please, just tell her that I love her okay," Emily pleads.

Cook sighs in defeat, and nods his head receiving a small half smile from Emily in return.

"Look i'll tell her though I don't know what good it'll do, she'll write you if she wants to okay." Cook relents.

"Thank you Cook," Emily says seriously, pulling him into a quick hug.

"Tell Ef I say goodbye okay," He says as she turns to run towards the car receiving a nod from her in return before she gets into the back of the car and speeds off.

Its only about ten minutes later when Naomi's boat comes into the dock, Cook watches as she helps off her group and then runs over to her.

"Cook what's up," Naomi says sensing his urgency.

"Its Emily, she was here just a minute ago," Cook explains.

Naomi's eyes snap up to the parking lot scanning the crowds for Emily, feeling her chest tighten at the thought of Emily coming here to try and work things out after the disaster that was the night before.

"She's leaving Naomi," Cook's voice snaps her out of her search.

"What?" Naomi exclaims.

"Her parents are taking her to Providence today, she wanted me to tell you that she loves you," Cook explains," I told her you'd write if you wanted to talk."

Naomi doesn't reply, she just takes off up the dock knocking people out of her way until she reaches her car. The only thought going through her mind as she speeds down the highway is getting to Emily and telling her that she loves her too. That she wants nothing more than to make it work no matter what it takes because only one night without her had made Naomi miserable, she didn't know if she'd survive a life time without Emily in her life. But when she reaches the Fitch residence she's met with a locked gate, she beeps frantically at the intercom attached, growling to herself until someone answers.

"I'm here to see Emily Fitch," Naomi says into the receiver.

"I'm sorry but the Fitch's left for Providence a half hour ago," The voice on the other end explains.

The reality of the situation sets in then, Emily is gone and there's nothing she can do about it. She pulls out her phone and dials Emily's cell phone number only to receive a message saying the user of this number could not be reached, Naomi could only assume the Fitch's had cut off Emily's cell phone. She sat back down in the car, her heart racing trying to come up with some way to stop this but she couldn't think of anything until she remembered what Cook said. He said he had told Emily she would write her if she wanted talk and since she had no other way of getting in contact with her at the moment email seemed like her last chance.

So Naomi takes off back towards her house, walks inside purposefully towards her bedroom, ignoring her mothers questions about what was going on and sits down with her lap top. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before beginning to spill her heart out as best she could with her words as she writes her first email to Emily.


End file.
